BT 


UC-NRLF 


$B    51    7fil 


[tcbisan 


The  Combination  Theos  Soter  as  Explanation  ol 

the  Primitive  Christian  Use  of  Soter 

as  Title  and  Name  of  Jesus 


Conrad  Henry  Moehlmann 


I 


A  dissertation  submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 

for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the 

University  of  Michigan 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/combinationtheosOOmoehrich 


W\)t  Wini\itt9iitp  of  iHicftisan 


The  Combination  Theos  Soter  as  Explanation  of 

the  Primitive  Christian  Use  of  Soter 

as  Title  and  Name  of  Jesus 


Conrad  Henry  Moehlmann 


:.•."  'V 


A  dissertation  submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 

for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the 

University  of  Michigan 


^^ICiH^jNiCi^ 


TO 
B.,  S.,  W.,  AND  W. 

With  gratitude  and  regard 


M 


433087 


It  was  my  hope  to  expand  the  scope  of  this  inquiry.  The  illness 
and  death  of  Professor  Walter  Rauschenbusch,  and  my  appoint- 
ment to  the  professorship  of  Church  History  have  prevented  its 
realization. 


CONTENTS 


Statement  of  the  problem  page 

I.  The  failure  to  employ  soter  as  title  of  Jesus  during  the  early  decades  of  the 

existence  of  Christianity 3-14 

1.  The  personality  of  Jesus  and  the  title  soter 3 

2.  The  principal  purpose  of  Jesus  and  the  title  soter 4 

3.  The  primitive  Christian  church  and  the  title  soter 5 

4.  Paul  and  the  title  soter 10 

5.  The  primitive  Christian  environment  and  the  title  soter 13 

II.  The  Christian  usage  of  the  term  soter  to  the  time  of  the  early  apologists 15-21 

6.  The  term  soter  as  used  of  God 15 

7.  The  term  soter  as  used  of  Jesus 15 

8.  The  interpretation  of  the  data 19 

III.  The  sources  and  history  of  the  jo/(?r-idea 22-39 

9.  The  Jewish  scriptures  and  other  Jewish  productions  as  source 22 

10.  The  history  of  the  soter-'xAtz  in  the  Graeco-Roman  civilization 25 

11.  The  significance  of  the  soter-'xAtz 37 

IV.  The  explanation  of  the  primitive  Christian  failure  to  apply  the  title  soter  to 

Jesus 40-64 

12.  Christianity  and  the  imperial  employment  of  the  title  soter 40 

13.  The  expansion  of  Christianity  and  the  title  soter 41 

14.  The  Christology  of  the  primitive  Christian  church  and  the  title  soter.       42 

Conclusion  k  a  65 


K\ 


The  Combination  Theos  Soter  as  Explanation  of 

the  Primitive  Christian  Use  of  Soter 

as  Title  and  Name  of  Jesus 

STATEMENT  OF  THE   PROBLEM 

During  its  entire  history,  Christianity  has  been  a  religion  of  re- 
demption. Salvation  is  a  very  characteristic  word  in  the  Christian 
vocabulary.  The  theology  of  redemption  has  varied;  the  proclama- 
tion of  salvation  has  been  continuous.  The  development  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  salvation  has  been  retarded  or  deteriorated 
by  a  host  of  faults  such  as  bigoted  intolerance,  penance  and  satis- 
faction hypotheses,  legalism,  the  cultivation  of  superstition  and 
magic;  but  even  these  perversions  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  desired  to  be 
regarded  as  ways  of  salvation. 

To  demonstrate  the  proposition  that  Christianity  from  its  origin 
has  been  a  religion  of  salvation,  reference  may  be  made  by  way  of 
illustration  to  some  of  the  trends  in  the  primitive  era  of  Christianity. 
Christian  gnosticism,  though  seeking  to  separate  Christianity  from  its 
past,  was  a  plan  of  salvation.*  Each  of  the  vagrant  forms  of  Christian 
gnosticism  has  much  to  say  regarding  the  ^' Soter'*  and  salvation. 
The  Naassene  hymn  illustrates  the  gnostic  emphasis  on  redemption. 

"Then  Jesus  said,  Behold,  O  Father, 
This  being  pursued  by  ills, 
Wanders  about  upon  the  earth 
Far  from  thy  breath. 
Seeking  to  escape  from  bitter  chaos 
And  knows  not  how  to  pass  through  it. 
Therefore,  send  me,  O  Father; 
Bearing  the  seals  I  shall  descend, 
All  the  aeons  I  shall  pass  through 
All  mysteries  I  shall  reveal 
And  the  forms  of  the  gods  show; 
And  the  secrets  of  the  holy  path, 
Calling  it  gnosis,  I  shall  transmit. "^ 

^Encyclopedia  Brittanica,  article  GnosticismVI;  Hasting's  Dictionary  of  Religion 
and  Ethics,  article  Gnosticism  4,  6. 
"^  Hippolytus,  Philosophumena  V,  5. 


Z  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

Likewise,  Marcionism  and  Montanism,  though  opposed  and  re- 
jected by  nascent  Catholicism,  never  thought  of  discounting  salva- 
tion. And  Catholicism  which  succeeded  in  maintaining  connection 
between  Christianity  and  its  past,  developed  its  "apostolic"  creed, 
its  "apostolic"  canon  and  its  "apostolic"  episcopate  primarily  in  the 
interest  of  salvation. 

Not  only  was  Christianity  announcing  a  gospel  of  salvation,  but 
the  environment  of  early  Christianity  was  pregnant  with  manifold 
varieties  of  salvation.  That  was  an  exceedingly  religious  epoch,  and 
religious  syncretism  had  for  scores  of  years  been  making  the  idea  of 
soter  familiar  to  the  peoples  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world.  Serious 
quest  of  salvation  and  intense  expectation  of  or  glorious  realization  of 
a  soter  are  outstanding  manifestations  of  the  era  of  Jesus. 

But  Jesus  was  not  called  soter  from  the  beginning  of  Christianity. 
During  the  first  decades  of  its  life,  Christianity  promulgated  a  soter- 
less  soteriology.  The  earliest  strata  of  Christian  literature  do  not 
contain  the  title  soter  of  Jesus  and  yet  make  much  of  the  transforma- 
tion of  sinners  and  the  destruction  of  the  power  of  sin  through  Jesus. 
All  the  hope  of  these  humble  folks  centers  in  Jesus  as  bringer  of  salva- 
tion, but  the  agent  of  redemption  is  not  called  soter.  Christianity  at 
first  appears  in  the  soterful  Graeco-Roman  world  as  a  religion  special- 
izing in  salvation  and  with  a  gospel  concerning  Jesus  without  em- 
ploying the  title  or  name  soter  of  its  founder.  Prior  to  the  eighth 
decade  of  the  first  Christian  century,  the  term  soter  hardly  occurs  as 
title  in  any  of  the  Christian  documents.  Indeed,  it  is  the  middle  of 
the  second  century  ere  soter  is  found  absolutely  as  the  name  of  Jesus. 

The  problem  investigated  in  this  study  is  the  persistent  refusal  on 
the  part  of  the  primitive  church,  the  church  to  the  close  of  the  life  of 
Paul,  to  apply  the  word  soter  to  Jesus.  Further,  by  tracing  the  em- 
ployment of  the  title  soter  in  Christian  literature  to  the  age  of  the 
early  apologists,  we  desire  to  discover  at  what  point  and  with  what 
significance  in  the  developing  Christology  of  the  church,  soter  began  to 
be  used  of  Jesus. 


I. 

THE  FAILURE  TO  EMPLOY  SOTER  AS  TITLE  OF  JESUS 

DURING  THE  EARLY  DECADES  OF  THE 

EXISTENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

One  of  the  elements  of  religion  is  the  recognition  of  personality  in 
the  universe.  Prophetism  requires  its  prophets.  The  prophetic 
development  in  Israel  is  marked  by  remarkable  personalities.  Legal- 
ism has  its  founders.  "Allah  is  great,  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet." 
There  have  been  religions  of  redemption  that  sought  to  disregard  the 
personal  factor.  They  were  doomed  to  lack  the  approval  of  the 
masses.  Gautama  Buddha  failed  to  dissociate  himself  from 
Buddhism. 3  Eschatology  regards  the  coming  period  of  bliss  as  the 
conferment  of  a  savior-king.  The  title  soter  was  current  in  Parsism, 
in  Judaism,  in  the  mystery  religions,  in  the  imperial  cult,  and  in  the 
general  religious  life  of  the  Roman  empire. 
1.     The  personality  of  Jesus  and  the  title  soter. 

Christianity  follows  the  course  of  religious  development  in  em- 
phasizing the  personality  of  Jesus.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  inextricably 
woven  into  the  origin  and  history  of  Christianity.  Jesus  placed  him- 
self at  the  converging  point  of  the  group  organizing  about  him.  The 
verdict  of  Jesus  set  aside  the  sacred  tradition  of  the  Jews.  He 
challenged  the  hoary  past  with  its  Moses  and  its  Ezra  with  a  simple 
"but  I  say."  A  peasant  of  Galilee  dared  to  repudiate  the  past  and 
present  supreme  court  of  Israel.  This  astonishing  and  perplexing 
self-consciousness  of  Jesus  may  be  witnessed  in  such  a  saying  as, 
"All  things  have  been  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father;  and  no  one 
knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son;  neither  doth  anyone  know  the 
Son,  save  the  Father,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal 
himself."^  Jesus  compares  himself  with  the  men  of  the  past  and  feels 
his  superiority:  "greater  than  Jonah  is  here."'  Jesus  demanded 
acknowledgment  and  persecution  for  his  sake:  "Whosoever  shall  be 
ashamed  of  me  and  my  words  ....  of  him  shall  I  be  ashamed; 
whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake,  the  same  shall  save  it."« 

3  Carpenter,  J.  E.,  The  Historical  Jesus  and  the  Theological  Christ.  London,  1911 
p.  114fF. 

*  Following  Weiss,  J.,  in  Theologische  Studien  Heinrici  dargebracht  p.  120  fF,  Mat- 
thew 11:27  ff. 

^  Luke  11:29. 

8  Mark  8:38. 


4  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

He  anticipated  personal  vindication:  "the  stone  rejected  by  the 
builders  hath  become  the  head  of  the  corner/*^  He  claimed  the 
power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins.*  He  insisted  on  loyal  and  immediate 
obedience:  "let  the  dead  bury  their  dead,  follow  thou  me."^  His 
spoken  word  should  last  on  though  heaven  and  earth  were  to  pass 
away.  Within  a  brief  time  after  the  humiliating  death  on  the  middle 
tree,  hesitating,  doubting,  despairing  fishermen  may  be  seen  leaving 
their  nets  by  the  side  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  to  return  to  the  city  where 
Jesus  iiad  met  ignominy  and  catastrophic  defeat  to  proclaim  there 
that  it  was  not  possible  for  such  a  one  to  be  held  down  in  the  clutch 
of  death.  1°  The  return  to  Jerusalem  is  one  of  the  greatest  acts  of 
faith  in  human  history.  But  these  plain  men  believed  in  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  Jesus  only  because  they  first  believed  in  him. 
Not  the  third  day  but  the  personality  of  Jesus  is  the  beginning  of 
Ghristology.  The  greatest  achievement  of  Jesus  was  himself.  The 
personality  of  Jesus  accounts  for  Christianity  and  is  inseparable 
from  Christianity.  What  title  should  such  a  central  personality 
forthwith  have  received  .f* 
2.     The  principal  purpose  of  Jesus  and  the  title  soier. 

Jesus  defined  his  principal  aim  in  terms  of  salvation.  Our  atten- 
tion has  been  called  to  a  unique  group  of  sayings  in  the  gospels  intro- 
duced by  the  formula  "I  came  to"  or  its  equivalent. ^^  Two  of  these 
utterances  characterize  the  attitude  of  Jesus:  "Do  not  imagine  I 
came  to  bring  peace  on  earth;  I  came  not  to  bring  peace  but  a  sword;" 
"I  came  to  throw  fire  on  the  earth.  Would  it  were  kindled  already." 
Another  of  these  distinctive  sayings  is  concerned  with  Jesus'  relation 
to  the  past:  "Do  not  imagine  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the 
prophets;  I  came  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill."  The  remaining  say- 
ings of  this  special  group  refer  to  salvation:  "Tcame  not  to  call 
just  men  but  sinners;"  "the  Son  of  Man  himself  has  not  come  to  be 
served,  but  to  serve  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many;"  "for 
the  Son  of  Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost;"  "for  the  Son  of 
Man  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives  but  to  save  them;"  "it  was 
only  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  that  I  was  sent."  To 
these  may  be  added  the  sentence  in  the  reply  to  the  query  of  John 

^  Matthew  16:25. 

8  Mark  2:10  ff. 

»Mark  12:1  ff. 

10  Acts  2:24. 

"  Harnack,  Zeitschrift  fuer  Theologie  and  Kirche  1912,  p.  1  fF.  The  passages  are: 
Mark  2:17,  10:45;  Luke  19:10,  9:55;  Matthew  15:24,  5:17,  10:34;  Luke  12:59;  Matthew 
11:3  fF;  Luke  7:20  fF;  John  12:46,  18:37. 


AS   TITLE    AND   NAME    OT   JESUS  5 

the  Baptist,"  to  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached."  There  are  also 
two  passages  in  the  Johannine  tradition  that  bear  on  the  matter: 
'*I  am  come  a  Hght  into  the  world,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  me, 
may  not  abide  in  the  darkness; "^^  ^'^-o  this  end  have  I  been  born  and 
to  this  end  am  I  come  into  the  world  that  I  should  bear  witness  to 
the  truth. "13 

These  sayings  offer  very  valuable  data  to  ascertain  Jesus*  estimate 
of  his  mission.  Here  is  evidence  from  our  oldest  narrative  source, 
from  the  material  peculiar  to  Matthew,  from  the  material  peculiar 
to  Luke,  with  similar  material  found  in  the  oldest  sayings  source, 
and  corroborated  by  the  Johannine  tradition.  The  case  is  the 
strongest  possible.  These  sayings  concisely  define  Jesus*  main  pur- 
pose in  life.  What  was  it?  Tersely  and  classically  put,  it  was: 
"I  came  to  save"  or  I  am  soter.  Why  then  does  Jesus  nowhere  call 
himself  soter? 
3.     The  primitive  Christian  church  and  the  title  soter. 

The  primitive  Christian  community,  the  earliest  organized  group 
of  followers  of  Jesus,  was  deeply  interested  in  the  matter  of  salva- 
tion. It  was  this  group  that  preserved  the  narrative  of  the  life  of 
Jesus,  that  collected  the  sayings  of  Jesus,  and  began  to  develop  a 
theology  of  his  person.  A  glance  at  the  frequent  employment  of  the 
verb  "to  save"  and  its  cognates  in  the  gospels  is  sufficient  to  show 
their  interest  in  salvation.  Moreover,  Jesus  is  often  described  as 
providing  for  physical  needs,  rescuing  from  physical  dangers,  curing 
physical  ills.  The  recurring  summaries  of  the  healing  activity  of 
Jesus  indicate  the  impression  made  by  the  savior  of  the  body.  "Now 
when  evening  came,  when  the  sun  set,  they  brought  him  all  who 
were  ill  or  possessed  by  daemons — indeed  the  whole  town  was 
gathered  at  the  door  and  he  cured  many  who  were  ill  with  various 
diseases  and  cast  out  many  daemons. "^^  The  leprous,  palsied, 
paralytic,  blind,  deaf,  lame,  anaemic,  insane  who  felt  themselves 
helped  formed  centres  of  ever-enlarging  personal  groups  propagating 
their  faith  in  Jesus  as  healer.  One  who  could  release  and  free  men 
from  the  sway  of  evil  spirits  deserved  the  title  of  soter.  If  one  recalls 
how  widespread  and  popular  the  cult  of  Asclepius  was,  it  is  easy  to 
assume  that  the  reputation  of  Jesus  as  healer  should  have  sufficed  to 
fix  upon  him  the  title  soter. ^^   Even  Lucian,  the  rationalist,  does  not 

12  John  12:46. 
'3  John  18:37. 
>^  Mark  1:32. 
i^Cf.  Harnack,  Expansion  of  Christianity  I  p.  127  fF. 


6  .THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

venture  to  poke  fun  at  Asclepius,  though  all  the  high  Greek  gods  and 
the  mystery  religions  are  subjected  to  his  wit.  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria identifies  physician  and  soter.  "The  all-sufficient  physician 
of  humanity,  the  soter^  heals  both  body  and  soul."i«  In  the  Acts  of 
John,  the  Acts  of  PhiUp,  and  the  Acts  of  Thomas,  Christ  as  physician 
plays  an  important  role.^^  Celsus  contrasts  the  soter  Asclepius  with 
the  soter  of  the  Christians. i^  The  temples  and  altars  of  Asclepius 
dotted  the  Graeco-Roman  world  and  they  were  dedicated  to  Asclepius 
Soter. ^^  Ignatius  describes  the  *'one  Physician"  in  the  terminology 
of  soter.^^  Evidence  like  this  suggests  how  immediately  and  per- 
sistently the  existence  of  the  worship  of  Asclepius  Soter  would  raise 
the  issue  of  soter  with  reference  to  Jesus,  the  healer. 

The  primitive  Christian  community  also  interpreted  Jesus  as  an 
authority  in  the  realm  of  thought.  It  loved  to  recall  how  in  the 
marketplace  or  in  the  synagogue,  the  masses  had  approved  the 
opinions  of  the  Nazarene.  The  carpenter  of  Nazareth  without 
intellectual  lineage  had  vanquished  in  debate  the  eloquent  teachers 
of  the  law.  Customs  handed  down  from  the  fathers,  practices 
traced  to  Moses  were  abolished  with  a  "verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you."  His  teaching  was  new  and  unique  and  appealed  to  common 
folks.  He  could  reduce  the  cleverest  argument  of  a  Pharisee  to 
absurdity  and  could  silence  the  wily  Sadducee  as  well.  The  multi- 
tudes were  astonished  at  his  teaching.  Here  was  one  not  shackled  by 
tradition  or  by  nationalism  or  by  eschatological  pessimism.  With 
him  the  inestimable  worth  of  the  individual  was  axiomatic.  More- 
over, Jesus  had  obliterated  the  ceremonial  and  the  formal,  had 
actually  destroyed  the  law  by  applying  it,  had  proclaimed  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  had  announced  an 
ethical  religion  of  redemption,  had  fused  religion  and  morality,  had 
promulgated  as  the  general  marching  orders  of  his  followers:  "ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world,"  "be  ye  therefore  perfect  even  as  your 
Father  is  perfect,"  had    paid  attention   to  the   inside  of  the  cup. 

^*  Clement,  Paedagogi  Lib.  I,  2. 

1^  Doelger,  Ichthys,  Rom,  1910  p.  418,  note  4;  Acta  Philippi  41,  118;  Acta  Job.  22, 
108;  Acta  Tbom.  10,  37,  143,  156. 

^^Origen,  contra  Celsum  III  3. 

^^  Deissmann,  Light  from  tbe  Ancient  East  p.  311,  374;  Roscber,  Ausfuebrlicber 
Lexikon  der  griecbiscben  und  roemiscben  Mythologie,  under  soter;  Walton,  Cult  of 
Asklepios,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  1894;  G.  Dindorfii,  Aristides,  Leipzig,  1829;  Justin,  Apology 
21,  22,  25,  54;  Tatian,  Oratio  ad  Graec.  21;  Clement,  Protreptikos  II,  26;  Origen,  contra 
Celsum  III  22,  24,  25. 

2"  Ignatius,  Epbesians  7:2,  cf  also  Harnack,  History  of  Dogma  I  p.  118,  note  1,  Ex- 
pansion of  Christianity  I  p.  121-151. 


AS   TITLE   AND   NAME    OF   JESUS  7 

Jesus  neither  demanded  asceticism  nor  practised  sacramentarianism. 
Jesus  emancipated  men  from  nationalism,  ceremonialism  and  legalism. 
Such  a  liberator  should  hardly  have  escaped  the  title  soter."^^ 

But  Jesus  also  had  much  to  say  concerning  the  sway,  the  rule, 
the  sovereignty  of  God.  "Christianity  is  a  religion  of  salvation  in  the 
sense  of  the  hope  of  future  salvation  and  that  salvation  not  only  and 
not  in  the  first  place  of  individual  beings  but  of  human  society  as 
such,  the  message  of  a  future  salvation,  and  that,  too,  to  be  hoped 
for  in  the  immediate  future,  salvation  from  the  present  miserable 
condition  of  the  world — the  message  of  the  dawn  of  a  new  world,  of 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  in  which  universal  peace,  happi- 
ness and  righteousness  shall  rule — that  was  the  great  message  that 
went  forth  from  Palestine."" 

Thus  Jesus  was  entitled  to  the  designation  soter  for  social  and 
eschatological  reasons,  but  was  not  called  soter. 

The  primitive  Christian  community  could  not  forget  that  Jesus 
had  paid  attention  to  the  sinner.  Jesus  sought  to  understand  the 
problem  of  the  sinner  who  had  experienced  the  tragedy  of  acting 
against  his  loftiest  ideals,  of  doing  what  he  detested.  Jesus  was  in- 
terested in  the  hard  cases,  in  the  outlawed  publican,  in  the  village 
prostitute,  in  the  despised  throngs  of  Galilee  driving  aimlessly 
hither  and  yon.  His  laboratory  was  filled  with  the  potsherds  of  life. 
He  was  the  friend  of  sinners,  the  associate  of  the  ignoble  and  the  base. 
The  followers  of  Jesus  soon  acquired  a  reputation  for  devotion  to  the 
lower  classes.  Celsus  pointed  out  that  the  Christian  appeal  was  to  the 
ignorant  and  wicked:  ''  *Let  no  cultured  person  draw  near,  none 
wise,  none  sensible;  for  all  that  kind  of  thing  we  count  evil;  but  if  any 
man  is  ignorant,  if  any  man  is  wanting  in  sense  and  culture,  if  any  is 
a  fool,  let  him  come  boldly.'  Such  people  they  spontaneously  avow 
to  be  worthy  of  their  God;  and,  so  doing,  they  show  that  it  is  only 
the  simpletons,  the  ignoble,  the  senseless,  slaves  and  women-folk  and 
children,  whom  they  wish  to  persuade  or  can  persuade — But  let  us 
hear  what  sort  these  people  invite;  'whosoever  is  a  sinner  or  unin- 
telligent or  a  fool,'  in  a  word,  whosoever  is  god-forsaken,  him  the 
Kingdom  of  God  will  receive. "23 

Jesus'  message  concerning  sin  and  the  sinner  may  best  be  studied 

2'  On  5i5d<r/caXos  and  irpcxfyfiTrfs  as  aiarrip  see  Reitzenstein,  Poimandres  180;  cf.  the 
connection  of  the  teacher  of  righteousness  and  unique  teacher  with  the  Messiah  in 
"Fragmentsof  aZadokite  Work"  1:7,  2:10,  8:10,  9:29,  39,  50,  53,  15:4  (Charles,  Apo- 
crypha and  Pscudepigrapha,  Oxford,  1913,  vol.  II,  p.  799  fF). 

22  Pfleiderer,  Religion  and  Historic  Faith,  New  York,  1907,  p.  254. 

23  0rigen,  contra  Celsum  III  44,  59. 


8  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

in  Luke  vii  and  xv.  The  despised  prostitute  is  renewed  by  a  diagnosis 
of  what  has  gone  on  within  her.  Jesus  explains  her  manifestation  of 
love  as  evidence  that  God  has  pardoned  her  sin.  The  son  who  de- 
parted from  home  to  enjoy  his  inheritance  and  who  squandered  all  is 
given  a  regal  welcome  in  spite  of  the  anticipated  protest  of  the  elder 
brother.  For  God  always  rejoices  over  the  lost  who  return.  Without 
the  slightest  hesitation,  without  a  moral  criticism  of  his  previous 
career,  without  the  demand  of  reparation  or  the  assignment  of  penalty, 
God's  forgiving  love  recognizes  the  return  itself  as  evidence  of  a  good 
disposition.  Deliverance  from  brooding  fear  because  of  sin,  certainty 
of  sonship  to  God,  joy,  hope,  confidence,  a  new  God,  a  new  man,  a 
new  world  are  here.  God's  nature  is  grace.  This  is  the  watershed 
in  ethical  religious  development.  This  is  the  culmination  of  the 
ethical  religion  of  redemption.  Forgiveness  of  sins  plus  the  new 
creation  of  ethical  personality — this  is  the  supreme  contribution  of 
Christianity  to  the  religious  development  of  man. 

At  once  the  answer  is  made,  precisely  so  and  therefore  the  primi- 
tive Christian  church  had  no  need  of  a  soter.  God  desires  freely  to 
forgive.  This  is  the  perfect  ethical  religion  of  redemption.  By  his 
own  view  of  God,  Jesus  eliminated  himself.  The  conclusion  is  er- 
roneous. For  he  who  announced  such  a  revolutionary  and  such  a 
liberating  view  of  God  by  his  proclamation  created  himself  soter. 
Moreover,  the  immediate  followers  of  Jesus  had  experienced  his 
death.  It  was  an  experience  at  the  focusing  point  of  conviction  and 
of  feeling.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Messiah  and  yet  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  had  been  nailed  to  the  cross.  Such  a  Messiah  was  a  con- 
tradiction of  Jewish  eschatology.24  The  Jew  of  the  time  of  Jesus  did 
not  interpret  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  of  the  Messiah.  The 
documents  of  Christianity  demonstrate  in  many  concrete  instances 
that  such  a  construction  was  not  contemplated.  The  disciples  had 
to  be  taught  the  necessity  of  the  death  of  Jesus. 25  Paul's  problem 
could  have  been  far  more  easily  resolved,  if  the  rabbis  had  known  of 
a  suflFering  and  dying  Messiah.  It  never  occurs  to  Trypho,  the  Jew, 
to  discount  the  claims  of  Justin  by  pointing  to  such  a  Jewish  dogma. 
The  Messiah  of  IV.  Ezra  dies,  but  after  holding  sway  four 
hundred  years  and  not  alone  but  with  all  humanity  and  not  catas- 

^  Charles  R.  H.,  Religious  Development  between  the  O.  T.  and  the  N.  T.,  New  York, 
p.  77:  "Indeed,  prior  to  the  advent  of  Christianity,  Jewish  exegetes  seem  never  to  have 
apprehended  the  messianic  significance  of  the  suffering  Servant  of  Yahweh.  The  idea  of 
a  crucified  Messiah  was  an  impossible  conception  to  the  Judaism  of  that  period." 

2s  Mark  8:31,  9:12,  31;  Luke  24:20  ff. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  9 

trophically  in  connection  with  suffering  but  naturally. ^s  The 
Samaritan  Messiah  also  dies  a  natural  death.  He  dies  because  he  is 
mortal.  The  rabbis  are  familiar  with  a  Messiah  ben  Joseph  and  a 
Messiah  ben  David,  a  suffering  Messiah.  But  the  rabbinical  Messiah 
ben  Joseph  does  not  come  into  existence  until  the  period  of  Hadrian, 
and  it  is  the  seventeenth  century  before  his  death  is  regarded  as 
propitiatory.  Moreover,  his  ministry  is  political.  The  doctrine  of  a 
suffering  Messiah  as  far  as  the  Jewish  rabbis  are  concerned  originated 
between  the  third  and  sixth  centuries  of  our  era."  Consequently,  the 
early  Christians  were  compelled  to  develop  a  philosophy  of  the  death 
of  Jesus.  And  thus  the  gospel  of  Jesus  became  a  gospel  concerning 
Jesus.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  died  on  the  cross.  Forthwith  the 
Deuteronomic  curse  challenged  his  life:  "Cursed  be  everyone  hanged 
on  a  gibbet."  The  message  of  Christ,  the  crucified,  had  to  prove  a 
stumbling  block  to  the  Jews.^s  Now  how  should  the  death  of  Jesus  be 
explained.^  Part  of  the  explanation  evolved  was  that  the  Jewish 
leaders  had  killed  Jesus  on  account  of  enmity:  **the  God  of  our 
fathers  raised  Jesus  whom  you  murdered  by  hanging  him  on  a 
gibbet; "29  ** which  of  the  prophets  did  your  fathers  fail  to  persecute? 
They  killed  those  who  announced  beforehand  the  coming  of  the 
Just  One  and  here  you  have  betrayed  him  and  murdered  him."'" 
The  violent  death  of  Jesus  was  also  accounted  for  by  means  of  Jewish 
determinism:  "And  he  proceeded  to  teach  them  that  the  Son  of  Man 
had  to  endure  great  suffering,  to  be  rejected  by  the  elders  and  the 
high  priests  and  scribes; "'i  "He  said  to  them,  *0  foolish  men,  with 
hearts  so  slow  to  believe,  after  all  the  prophets  declared !  Had  not  the 
Christ  to  suffer  thus  and  so  enter  his  glory  P"'^  "This  Jesus  betrayed 
in  the  predestined  course  of  God's  deliberate  purpose,  you  got  wicked 
men  to  nail  to  the  cross  and  murder. "'3  Further,  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  is  associated  with  Jesus  in  several  passages:  "Repent,  let  each 
of  you  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus  for  the  remission  of  sins;"'* 
"There  is  no  salvation  by  anyone  else,  nor  even  a  second  name  under 

2«  IV  Ezra  7:28  IF. 

"  Dalman,  Der  leidende  und  der  sterbende  Messias  der  Synagoge,  Berlin,  1888,  p.  16 
ff,  88fr91. 

2*  I  Corinthians  1:23. 

29  Acts  5:30  cf.  2:36,  3:17,  4:10,  10:39;  Mark  9:31;  Matthew  17:12,  22. 

3°  Acts  7:52. 

31  Mark  8:31  cf.  14:21. 

32  Luke  22:76  f. 

33  Acts  2:23. 
"Acts  2:38. 


10  THE    COMBINATION  THEOS    SOTER 

heaven  appointed  for  us  men  and  our  salvation; "35  "All  the  prophets 
testify  that  everyone  who  believes  in  him  is  to  receive  remission  of 
sins  through  his  Name."3«  The  bestowal  of  the  title  soter  on  Jesus 
the  Messiah  should  have  resulted  from  such  convictions  as  these. 
And  the  evidence  is  not  yet  exhausted.  For  there  is  a  peculiar  phrase 
found  in  Acts,  in  I  Peter,  and  in  Galatians  which  merits  attention.  It 
constitutes  a  connecting  link.  It  is  "on  a  gibbet"  or  "hanging  him 
on  a  gibbet"  or  "cursed  be  everyone  who  hangs  on  a  gibbet.""  In  the 
context  where  this  phrase  occurs,  forgiveness  of  sins  is  always  in  the 
background.  Is  the  conclusion  therefore  warranted  that  the  primi- 
tive Christian  church  related  the  forgiveness  of  sins  to  the  death  of 
Jesus?  The  question  might  be  seriously  debated,  if  Paul  did  not 
himself  affirm  that  the  primitive  church  prior  to  his  conversion 
possessed  a  definite  soteriology  making  Jesus  soter  from  sin:  "first 
and  foremost  I  transmitted  to  you  what  had  been  transmitted  to  me, 
namely,  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins."38  Is  it  not  passing  strange 
then  that  the  most  thoroughgoing  search  of  the  vocabulary  and  ter- 
minology of  the  primitive  church  prior  to  Paul  does  not  discover  a 
single  instance  of  the  employment  of  the  word  soter? 
4.     Paul  and  the  title  soter. 

An  investigation  of  the  Pauline  gospel  yields  a  result  similar  to  that 
ascertained  for  the  primitive  Christian  church.  The  usual  approach 
to  the  Pauline  religion  has  been  by  way  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  for  Paul  there  are  only  two  fundamental 
types  of  men,  those  who  support  their  claim  to  salvation  by  appeal  to 
achievement  and  those  who  unreservedly  trust  in  God.  Religion 
based  on  the  fulfillment  of  the  law  was  demonstrated  to  be  a  tragic 
failure.  For  obedience  to  the  law  is  not  within  the  ability  of  man. 
Hence  the  law  cannot  absolve  man  from  guilt  but  merely  discloses  the 
true  nature  of  sin.  Under  a  moral  government,  man  is  a  transgressor, 
is  hostile  to  God,  is  involved  in  sin  and  guilt  and  subject  to  condemna- 
tion. What  is  the  outcome  for  all  men  ?  "  No  person  will  be  acquitted 
in  his  sight  on  the  score  of  obedience  to  law.  What  the  law  imparts  is 
the  consciousness  of  sin. "^9  There  is  only  one  way  to  righteousness  and 
life.     It  is  God*s  way.     Man  imperatively  needs  a  divine  release. 

35  Acts  4:12. 

36  Acts  10:43. 

37  Acts  5:30,   10:39;  I  Peter  2:24,  Galatians  3:13,  cf.    Feine,  Neutestamentliche 
Theologie  under  passages  quoted. 

38 1  Corinthians  15:3. 
39  Romans  3:20. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  11 

Because  God's  nature  is  grace,  God  intervened.  The  redeemer 
descended.  The  death  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ  made  justifica- 
tion, reconciliation  and  life  available  for  man.  Those  who  believe  this 
announcement  are  men  of  the  faith  type.  To  observe  how  necessary  a 
soter  is  to  this  outline  of  the  apostle's  religion,  consider  Romans 
3:21-26.  We  have  here  a  series  of  contrasts  between  the  former 
status  and  the  present  status,  between  man  guilty,  an  enemy  of  God 
and  dying  and  man  justified,  reconciled,  living;  between  man  under 
legalism  and  man  under  faith.  To  bring  about  the  new  condition  of 
things,  a  deliverance  was  necessary.  And  Jesus  is  described  as  the 
selected  or  manifested  propitiation.  The  propitiatory  transaction  is 
efficient  through  a  sacrificed  life,  operative  through  faith,  designed  to 
demonstrate  that  God's  character  is  just  and  that  justification  is 
through  faith.  But  who  accomplished  this  deliverance.?  The  one 
word  most  needed  to  complete  this  comprehensive  description  of  the 
righteousness  of  God  is  soter.  But  that  precisely  is  the  word  omitted. 
Had  the  title  soter  not  been  in  existence,  the  apostle  should  have 
coined  it  to  meet  this  emergency.  What  perplexes  is  that  with  the 
title  soter  in  most  ordinary  use,  Paul  should  have  avoided  it. 

Paul's  religion  may  also  be  approached  from  the  angle  of  his 
Christology.^"  The  apostle's  message  is  the  gospel  of  the  son  of  God.*' 
*'Son  of  God"  in  case  of  Paul  has  metaphysical  significance.  Jesus 
was  a  heavenly,  pre-existent  being,  creator  and  soul  of  the  world,  who 
became  incarnate,  won  a  victory  over  the  power  of  sin  and  was 
appointed  reigning  sovereign. ''^  The  incarnation  of  the  heavenly  one 
is  described  as  a  great  condescension,  a  becoming  poor  for  man's 
sake.  But  what  was  the  basic  reason  for  the  incarnation .?  Apocalyp- 
ticism expected  the  heavenly  man  to  appear  in  glory,  sit  at  the  great 
assize,  establish  the  eschatological  Kingdom  of  God.  With  that 
hypothesis  Paul  had  long  been  familiar.  His  pre-Christian  problem 
was  to  bring  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  into  harmony  with  the  pre- 
existent  heavenly  man.  The  humanity  of  Jesus  was  on  record.  The 
idea  of  a  glorious  pre-existence  was  inviolable  dogma.  Why  need 
the  pre-existent  one  abandon  the  former  glory  and  live  such  a  limited 
and  circumscribed  human  career.?  The  answer  finally  given  by  Paul's 
experience  was  that  the  Messiah  was  destined  to  die  for  man's  sin  and 
on  account  of  the  power  of  sin.     Sin  was  reigning  in  the  flesh  and 

*°  See  especially  Weiss,  J.,  Christ,  the  Beginnings  of  Dogma  and  Bousset,  W,,  Kyrios 
Christos,  Goettingen,  1913. 
«  Romans  1:3  ff  Galatians  2:20,  4:4;  Romans  8:32. 
^2  Philippians  2:7  fF  Colossians  1:15-17;  I  Corinthians  15:45  ff. 


12  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

resulting  in  death.  The  law  could  not  overcome  its  sway.  Con- 
sequently, God  intervened.  God  sent  his  son  to  win  the  great  victory 
over  sin  and  its  sway.^^  Evidently,  Paul  is  describing  the  son  of  God 
as  soter  but  again  disappoints  us  by  his  failure  to  employ  the  title 
soter. 

The  religion  of  Paul  may  also  be  viewed  from  the  angle  of  his 
cosmology.''*  To  the  apostle  the  history  of  the  world  was  continuous 
and  a  terrific  conflict  between  two  kingdoms,  the  kingdom  of  the 
Messiah  and  the  kingdom  of  Satan.  There  are  two  world  periods, 
the  present  evil  world  and  the  coming  aeon.  The  present  aeon  is 
marked  by  three  ellipses  with  one  common  focus.  Their  independent 
foci  are  the  fall  of  Adam,  or  the  beginning  of  sin  and  death  in  the 
world;  the  promise  to  Abraham;  and  the  law.  Their  common  focus 
is  Christ.  There  are,  then,  the  Adam-Christ  ellipse,  the  Abraham- 
Christ  ellipse,  and  the  law-Christ  ellipse:*^  "as  all  die  in  Adam,  so 
shall  all  be  made  alive  in  Christ;"*^  "for  in  him  is  the  *yes'  that 
aflftrms  the  promises  of  God;"''^  "now  Christ  is  an  end  to  law,  so  as  to 
let  every  believer  have  righteousness. "''^  The  coming  age  which 
began  with  the  victorious  death  of  Christ*^  will  witness  the  overthrow 
of  all  opposition,  the  utter  destruction  of  Satan  and  his  cohorts,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  complete  sovereignty  of  God.^o  Even  in 
this  cosmic  salvation  the  death  of  Christ  is  a  very  concrete  thing. 
Not  an  intellectual  victory  but  a  moral  religious  victory  is  pictured. 
Jesus  Christ  released  and  delivered  humanity  from  the  turbulent 
and  wicked  cosmic  spirits:  "the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  gave  himself  for 
our  sins  to  rescue  us  from  this  present  evil  world;"''' "sin's  wage  is 
death  but  God's  gift  is  life  eternal  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord;"^!  "one 
man's  obedience  will  make  all  the  rest  righteous;"*^  *'for  God  destined 
us  not  for  wrath  but  to  gain  salvation  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
who  died  for  us."^^  Jt  vs^as  this  cosmic  interpretation  of  redemption 
which  attracted  Gnosticism  with  its  soter  to  Paulinism.  But  nowhere 
in  this  cosmic  philosophy  does  Paul  grant  Jesus  the  title  soter. 

«  Romans  8:3,  4. 

^  Carre,  H.  B.,  Paul's  Doctrine  of  Redemption,  New  York,  1914. 

^  Following  Weinel,  H.,  Biblische  Theologie  des  N.T.,  Tuebingen,  1913,  p.  412  fF. 

«I  Corinthians  15:22. 

4MI  Corinthians  1:20. 

«  Romans  10:4. 

*'  Galatians  1 :4. 

60  I  Corinthians  15:23-28. 

6^  Romans  6:23. 

52  Romans  5:19. 

^  I  Thessalonians  5:9. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  13 

Our  Study  of  the  Pauline  gospel  in  its  varied  aspects  has  shown 
Paul's  primary  question  to  be,  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved."    The 
noun  ''salvation"  and  the  verb  "to  save"  occur  again  and  again  in 
the  Pauline  correspondence,  but  the  title  soter  is  not  used. 
5.     The  primitive  Christian  environment  and  the  title  soter  J* 

Thus  far  our  attention  has  centered  upon  the  Christian  community. 
Internal  reasons  for  the  bestowal  of  the  title  or  name  soter  upon  Jesus 
have  been  discussed.  There  are  also  reasons  for  the  employment  of 
the  title  soter  of  Jesus  growing  out  of  the  environment  of  Christianity. 
During  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  much  time  has  been  devoted  to 
the  genetic  study  of  the  entire  religious  situation  which  resulted  in 
Christianity.  It  is  now  granted  that  Christianity  was  not  produced 
within  a  few  months  in  Galilee.  It  developed  in  a  larger  area  than 
that  of  Palestine.  The  only  adequate  background  for  the  study  of 
Christianity  is  the  civilization  of  the  Mediterranean  world  during  the 
two  centuries  preceding  and  following  the  origin  of  Christianity. 
The  Christian  religion  grew  in  the  soil  of  a  vast  syncretistic  process. 
Eschatology  was  not  a  phenomenon  characterizing  the  religious 
development  of  merely  one  nation.  Before  the  time  of  Jesus  the 
religious  currents  had  merged  in  two  principal  streams,  in  religions  of 
attainment  where  man  attempts  to  do  something  for  himself  and 
religions  of  redemption  where  the  major  weight  of  emphasis  is  thrown 
upon  the  deity.  The  problem  of  sorrow  and  suffering  was  before  the 
human  race.  Religion  was  becoming  the  concern  of  the  individual 
rather  than  of  the  state.  Like-minded  individuals  were  organizing 
groups,  religious  communities,  churches,  where  they  might  give  social 
expression  to  their  opinions  and  their  experiences.  The  answers 
given  to  the  problem  of  suffering  and  life  varied  from  those  of  the 
mystery  religions,  mysticism,  gnosticism,  eschatology  to  those  of 
orthodox  Judaism  and  Stoicism.  Salvation  might  be  regarded  as 
outward  success  and  deliverance,  as  physical  union  with  the  deity  by 
means  of  degraded  rites;  as  likeness  to  God,  spiritual  union,  devotion, 
prayer,  ethical  purity,  consecration  by  voluntary  death  in  the 
mysteries,  entering  the  Kingdom  of  God,  attainment  of  the  blessed 
life;  as  the  exercise  of  the  ethical  will,  the  escape  from  suffering  by 
the  suppression  or  annihilation  of  experience;  or  as  the  longing  for 
a  golden  age,  the  expectation  of  a  savior-god  or  a  savior-king.    How- 

^  This  section  attempts  to  summarize  the  results  of  recent  comparative  study,  follow- 
ing Weinel,  H.,  Biblische  Theologie  des  Neuen  Testaments,  introductory  chapter;  cf  also 
Case,  S.  J.,  The  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  Chicago,  1914. 


14  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

ever  defined,  there  was  well-nigh  universal  hope  of  deliverance  or 
salvation. 55  But  when  the  expected  deliverance  did  not  materialize, 
when  the  conviction  that  all  had  sinned  became  more  and  more 
oppressive,  when  conscience  refused  to  be  silenced  by  theories  or 
practices  ever  so  involved,  when  the  golden  expectations  of  the  new 
age  faded  away  before  the  experience  of  sorrow,  when  man  found  that 
he  could  not,  then  there  was  presented  an  opportunity  for  another 
religion  of  redemption.  Here  in  the  Graeco-Roman  world  there 
was  a  longing  for  salvation  and  an  appreciation  of  the  idea  of  soter 
and  dissatisfaction  because  of  failure  to  attain  the  ideal. ^^  Chris- 
tianity had  another  gospel,  another  explanation  of  salvation,  and 
another  agent  of  salvation.  But  Christianity  failed  to  employ  the 
title  soter  of  Jesus — the  very  title  the  world  of  that  day  most  needed 
and  should  have  most  appreciated. 

In  spite  of  the  internal  and  external  reasons  for  the  employment  of 
the  title  soter  with  reference  to  Jesus,  we  do  not  find  Jesus  calling 
himself  soter.  Nowhere  did  the  synoptic  tradition  coin  the  formula, 
"the  soter  said"  or  even  add  the  title  to  the  name  of  Jesus.  The 
late  Johannine  tradition  merely  permits  the  Samaritans  to  confess 
that  Jesus  is  the  soter  of  the  world."  The  fourth  evangelist  avoids  the 
title  and  does  not  even  introduce  it  into  the  controversies  with  the 
Jews.  To  appreciate  the  situation,  it  will  be  necessary  to  outline 
the  usage  of  the  term  soter  within  the  period  of  primitive  Christianity. 


55  Cf  Seneca's  "Where  shall  he  be  found,  whom  we  have  been  seeking  so  many  cen- 
turies?" "The  soul,  God,  knowledge,  expiation,  asceticism,  redemption,  eternal  life 
with  individualism  and  with  humanity  substituted  for  nationality — these  were  the  sub- 
lime thoughts  which  were  living  and  operating  ....  during  the  imperial  age," 
Harnack,  Expansion  I  p.  36. 

58  "Eine  alte,  reiche  Kulturwelt  im  Sterben  und  in  der  Agonie,  im  Sehnen  nach  einer 
Neuschoepfung  und  Wiedergeburt,  in  einer  nicht  zum  Ziele  kommenden  Unruhe  des 
Gottsuchens — so  stellt  sich  uns  das  niedergehende  Heidentum  dar,"  Wendland,  J., 
Hellenistischeroemische  Kultur,  Tuebingen,  1912  p.  186. 

57  John  4:42. 


II. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  USAGE  OF  THE  TERM  SOTER  TO  THE 
TIME  OF  THE  EARLY  APOLOGISTS" 

The  usage  of  the  term  soter  in  primitive  Christian  literature  is 
limited  to  God  and  Jesus. 

6.  The  term  soter  as  used  of  God. 

In  case  of  God,  soter  occurs  once  in  an  Old  Testament  quotation. 
Thus  in  Luke  1:47  "and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  soter.** 
Soter  is  employed  in  I  Clement  59:3  in  a  prayer  to  God,  *'thou  art 
the  helper  of  those  in  danger,  the  soter  of  those  in  despair"  with  the 
ordinary  literal  significance  of  rescue,  aid,  deliverance.  The  formula 
"God  our  Soter'*  occurs  six  times  in  the  later  writings  of  the  New 
Testament.  I  Timothy  1 :1  "  Paul  an  apostle  of  Christ  Jesus  according 
to  the  commandment  of  God  our  Soter  and  Jesus  Christ  our  hope." 
I  Timothy  2:3  "This  is  good  and  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  our 
Soter**  Titus  1:3  "according  to  the  commandment  of  God  our 
Soter**  Titus  2:10  "that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our 
Soter  in  all  things."  Titus  3:4  "But  when  the  kindness  of  God  our 
Soter**  Jude  25  "to  the  only  God  our  Soter  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  In  I  Timothy  4:10  this  formula  is  expanded  to  include  all 
men:  "For  to  this  end  we  labor  and  suffer  reproach  because  we  trust 
in  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Soter  of  all  men."^^ 

7.  The  term  soter  as  used  of  Jesus. 

In  case  of  Jesus,  soter  also  occurs  in  Old  Testament  quotations. 
In  his  Dialogue  with  Trypho  26:3,  Justin  has  "behold  thy  soter 
cometh."  The  immediate  context  does  not  indicate  the  precise 
nature  of  the  reference.  But  Justin's  custom  of  appropriating  all 
such  Old  Testament  passages  for  Jesus  supports  our  interpretation. 
In  the  Dialogue  36:4  "mercy  from  God  his  soter**  is  certainly  of 
Christ,  for  Christ  is  here  called  God,  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  Jacob.  A 
further  attempt  is  made  by  Justin  to  discover  Jesus  our  soter  in  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  Dialogue  72:1  "And  Esdras  said  to  the  people, 
*this  passover  is  our  soter  and  our  refuge.'  "  Justin  is  accusing  the 
Jews  of  mutilating  the  scriptures  by  removing  references  to  Jesus. 

"  No  New  Testament  book  was  born  canonical.  All  the  Christian  productions  of  the 
pre-Irenaean  epoch  should  be  considered  adequately  to  appreciate  the  New  Testament. 
The  early  apologists  are  near  the  borderline  of  Old  Catholic  Christianity. 

"  Compare  the  Odes  of  Solomon  5:9  "  Because  the  Lord  is  my  salvation"  where  the 
Coptic  has  the  equivalent  of  "quia  tu  es  deus  meus,  salvator  meus." 


16  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

This  Otherwise  unknown  passage  is  cited  to  establish  his  point. 
Justin  plainly  identifies  Jesus  with  ''our  soter''  of  the  assumed  Old 
Testament  reference. 

Justin  has  two  passages  that  deal  with  the  explanation  of  the  word 
soter.  One  is  found  in  Justin's  Apology  33  :7  "And  the  name  Jesus  in 
the  Hebrew  language  means  soter  in  the  Greek  language."  Here 
Justin  referring  to  Matthew  1:21  affirms  that  the  title  soter  is  simply 
Greek  for  the  Hebrew  Jesus  and  his  point  rests  on  the  literal  signifi- 
cance of  the  words  involved.  Jesus  is  the  equivalent  o{  soter.  Some- 
what similar  usage  is  met  with  in  the  Appendix  6:4  "But  Jesus,  his 
name  as  man  and  soter,  has  also  significance.  For  he  was  made  man 
....  for  the  sake  of  believing  men  and  for  the  destruction  of  the 
daemons." 

In  another  group  of  instances,  soter  is  used  as  a  descriptive  term. 
It  is  always  indefinite,  always  accompanied  by  another  term.  The 
background  in  this  type  of  usage  is  Jewish  messianism,  and  the 
literal  significance  of  soter  is  felt.  The  instances  are  four  in  number. 
Luke  2:11  "For  unto  you  hath  been  born  this  day  in  the  city  of 
David,  a  soter,  who  is  the  Lord  Christ,"  Acts  5:31  "Him  did  God 
exalt  to  be  a  prince  and  a  soter.''  Acts  13:23  "Of  this  man's  seed 
God,  according  to  promise,  brought  unto  Israel  a  soter,  even  Jesus. "^o 
Philippians  3:20  "For  our  commonwealth  is  in  heaven,  whence  also 
we  wait  for  a  soter,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

In  a  further  group  of  instances  relating  to  Jesus,  soter  has  title 
value  and  is  definite.  Two  kinds  of  usage  are  here  observable.  In 
the  first  of  these  soter  is  definite  and  accompanies  or  is  accompanied 
by  an  additional  title.  Thus,  Justin  in  his  Dialogue  with  Trypho 
1 10:4  "  For  the  vine  planted  by  God  and  Christ  the  soter  is  his  people." 
Ignatius  in  his  epistle  to  the  Philippians  9:2  "the  coming  of  the 
soter,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  II  Timothy  1:10  "the  appearing  of 
our  soter  Jesus  Christ."  The  Epistle  of  Ignatius  to  the  Smyrneans 
7:1,  Justin's  Apology  33:5,  61:  3  "our  soter  Jesus  Christ."  Titus 
1:4,  Ignatius  to  the  Magnesians  Introduction,  Ephesians  1:1  "Christ 
Jesus  our  soter.'*  The  Epistle  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians  Intro- 
duction "mercy  and  peace  from  God  Almighty  and  Jesus  Christ 
our  soter."     Titus  3:6,  Justin's  Apology  66:2,  67:7  "Jesus  Christ 

""  Luke  2:11  is  from  a  "  Palestinian  Jewish-Christian  Greek  or  Aramaic  source  which 
Luke  revised  and  incorporated"  (Moffatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New 
Testament,  New  York,  1911,  p.  267);  Acts  5:31,  13:23  shows  the  redactor's  presence. 
On  the  author's  own  attitude  toward  the  theos  question,  see,  e.  g.,  Luke  9:35,  8:39,  9:20, 
43,  17:15,  16,  18,  18:43,  19:37;  Acts  14:11  fF28:6. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  17 

our  soterr  II  Peter  1:11,  2:20,  3:18,  Dialogue  with  Trypho  93:2 
"our  Lord  and  soter  Jesus  Christ."  Ephesians  5:23  **as  Christ  also 
is  the  head  of  the  church  autos  soter  tou  somatos."*^  The  phrase  is 
puzzling.  Chrysostom  and  others  referred  soter  to  the  husband. 
The  words  are  in  any  case  parenthetical  and  may  be  a  later  addition. 
The  Johannine  literature  twice  employs  the  formula,  ''soter  of  the 
world."  One  instance  is  in  the  gospel,  John  4:42,  "this  is  indeed  the 
soter  of  the  world;"  the  other  instance  is  in  I  John  4:14  "the  father 
hath  sent  the  son,  the  soter  of  the  world."  The  Gospel  of  Peter  4:13 
has  "the  soter  of  men."  The  Martyrdom  of  Polycarp  19:2  reads  "he 
is  blessing  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  soter  of  our  souls."  The  church 
at  Alexandria,  in  the  second  century,  used  in  worship  a  hymn  con- 
taining the  expression,  "Jesus  soter  of  all  the  world."" 

In  the  second  group  of  instances  where  soter  has  title  value,  it  is 
associated  with  God.  Thus,  Titus  2:13  "Looking  for  the  blessed 
hope  and  appearing  of  the  glory  of  our  great  God  and  soter  Jesus 
Christ.""  The  second  instance  of  this  noteworthy  combination 
occurs  in  II  Peter  1:1  "the  righteousness  of  our  God  and  soter  Jesus 
Christ."  The  following  evolution  is  traceable  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles 
and  II  Peter:  God  our  soter,  Jesus  Christ  our  soter.  Our  Lord  and  soter 
Jesus  Christ,  our  God  and  soter  Jesus  Christ.  Recall  in  this  connec- 
tion how  Old  Testament  passages  involving  Kyrios  originally  applied 
to  Yahweh  are  in  the  New  Testament  referred  to  both  God  and 
Christ.  Isaiah  40:13  is  in  Romans  11:34  applied  to  God  and  in  I 
Corinthians  2:16  applied  to  Christ;  Isaiah  45:23  is  in  Romans  14:11 
applied  to  God  and  in  Philippians  2:11  applied  to  Christ.  Observe 
the  analogy:  God  is  soter,  Jesus  Christ  is  soter,  Jesus  Christ  is  God 
and  soter.  And  God  is  Kyrios;  Jesus  is  Kyrios;  Jesus  Christ  is  God  and 
Kyrios.  John  20:28,  "Thomas  answered  and  said  unto  him,  My 
Kyrios  and  my  God."  Thus  the  correct  rendering  of  I  Timothy  5:21 
may  be,  "In  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ,  God  and  Lord,  and  the  elect 
angels  I  adjure  thee." 

In  the  final  stage  of  the  development  of  soter  as  applied  to  Jesus, 
it  has  evolved  into  a  name.  If  the  Odes  of  Solomon  are  to  be  assigned 
to  the  neighborhood  of  A.  D.  100,  they  furnish  the  earliest  instance  of 
soter  as  name  employed  of  Jesus.  Thus  in  the  Odes  of  Solomon  41:12, 
the  poet  says:     "From  another  race  am  I:  for  the  Father  of  truth 

«'  soter  cum  Aleph^  B  D  E  etc;  ho  soter  Aleph*  A''  etc;  Ks  I.  soter  I  ''  *". 
«2  Clement  Paedagogl  Lib.  Ill  12,  101'. 

"  Versus  Abbot,  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Literature  and  Exegesis,  1881 
(June)  p.  3  f  and  others;  cum  Moulton,  Prolegomena  p.  84,  Winer-Schmiedel  p.  158. 


18  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

remembered  me.  He  who  possessed  me  from  the  beginning:  for  his 
bounty  begot  me,  and  the  thought  of  His  heart;  and  His  word  is  with 
us  in  all  our  way;  12.  the  soter  who  makes  alive  and  does  not  reject 
our  souls."  Quadratus  has  "the  works  of  our  soter. ^'^^  Justin's  Dia- 
logue with  Trypho  18:1  reads  "taught  by  our  soter. '^  So-called  II 
Clement  20:5  contains  the  doxology  "to  the  only  invisible  God,  the 
father  of  truth,  who  sent  forth  to  us  the  soter  and  prince  of  immortal- 
ity." II  Peter  3:2  refers  to  "the  commandment  of  the  Lord  and  soter 
through  your  apostles."  Justin's  Dialogue  with  Trypho  8:2  has 
"words  of  the  soter.''  Melito,  according  to  a  fragment  preserved  by 
Eusebius,  said  "since  thou  hast  often  expressed  the  wish  to  have 
extracts  made  from  the  law  and  prophets  concerning  the  soter."^^ 
Tatian  wrote  a  treatise  "Concerning  Perfection  according  to  the 
Soter.''^^  An  Oxyrhynchus  papyrus  assigned  to  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  century  of  our  era  by  Grenfell  and  Hunt  contains  the  absolute 
ho  soter  repeatedly.  "And  a  certain  Pharisee,  a  chief  priest,  whose 
name  was  Levi,  met  them  and   said  to  the  Soter,  who  gave  thee 

leave And  the  Soter  straightway  stood  still  and  his 

disciples  and  answered  .  .  .  The  Soter  answered."  The  fragment 
consistently  refers  to  Jesus  as  "the  Soter. ''^"^  Irenaeus  states  that  the 
Valentinians  called  Jesus  soter  rather  than  kyrios.  "And  for  this 
reason  they  affirm  it  was  that  the  Soter,  for  they  do  not  please  to  call 
him  Lord,  did  no  work  in  public  during  the  space  of  thirty  years. "^^ 
The  important  letter  on  the  Christian  attitude  toward  the  Old  Testa- 
ment which  Ptolemy  wrote  to  Flora,  in  the  neighborhood  of  A.  D.  160, 
employs  soter  as  name  sixteen  times,  and  twelve  of  these  instances  are 
absolute.  And  this  letter  covers  only  six  pages  in  Harnack's  edition. ^^ 
The  Valentinian  sacred  canon  was  in  two  parts  of  which  one  was  known 
as  ho  soter  and  the  other  as  ho  apostolos."^^  The  Excerpta  ex  Theodoto 
have  the  following  usage: 

ho  Soter  m  1:1,2:2  (twice);  3:1,  44:2,  46:2; 

ho  soter 'm  5:2,8:2,9:1,18:1,19:2,51:3,52:1  (twice);  61 :7,  66:1, 
67:2,  75:3; 

w  Eusebius,  H.  E.  4:3,  2. 

65  Eusebius,  H.  E.  4:26,  13. 

6®  Clement,  Stromatels  III,  12,  8. 

«7  Oxyrhynchus  Papyri  V,  No.  840. 

6^  Irenaeus  adv.  omnes  haer.  I  1:3,  5:3. 

69  6  aoiTijp  /,  5  II  1,  3,  4,  10  III  1(3  instances),  2,  11,  IV  1,  2;  6  aoir^p  iinQiv  5,  9  V  4, 
10,  cf  Sitzungsberlchte  der  koenigHchen  Preussischen  Akademie  der  Wissenschaften, 
1902,  I  p.  505  ff. 

^°  Excerpta  ex  Theodoto  22,  48,  49,  etc. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  19 

tou  Soteros  in  45:2,  59:2; 
tou  soteros  in  5:3,  18:2,  61:6,  68,  76:1; 

ton  sotera  in  23:3,  33:2  and  quote    Philippians   2:11:    Kuptos  ttjs 
do^rjs  'Irjaovs  Xpuaros  acoTrjp''^ 

The  Valentinian  Heracleon  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  fourth  gospel 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century.  Fragments  of  this  com- 
mentary survive  in  Origen.  The  following  instances  of  the  absolute 
ho  soter  or  its  equivalent  occur: 

VI.  12  p.  56,  p.  57  (twice);  p.  58  (twice) 
X.  9  p.  66,  67  (once);  14  p.  67  (twice);  19  p.  69;  22  p.  71 
XIII.  10  p.  72  (twice);  11  p.  73,  74  (three  times);  30  p.  82  (twice); 
p.  83  (four  times);  38  p.  84,  85  (three  times);  44  p.  86;  46  p. 
87  (twice);  48  p.  88;  52  p.  91  (twice);  59  p.  92,  p.  93  (three 
times);  p.  94 
XIX.  4  p.  96  (four  times) 
XX.  8  p.  97  (three  times);  30  p.  lOl^^ 
Here   are   forty-six  instances  of  soter  as  name  and  twenty-nine  of 
them  must  be  credited  to  Heracleon.     Hegesippus  in  his  narrative 
of  the  death  of  James  the  Just  has  *' Jesus  was  the  Soter,**^^   The 
Epistle  to  Diognetus,  probably  to  be  assigned  to  the  third  century, 
contains  this  sentence:    "Having  convinced  us  then  of  the  inability 
of  our  natures  to  attain  life  in  time  past  and  now  having  shown  the 
Soter  who  is  able  to  save."'^ 

We  have  now  examined  all  the  types  of  usage  of  soter  during  the 
primitive  Christian  period.  Our  next  task  is  to  interpret  the  data. 
8.     Interpretation  of  the  data. 

Our  study  of  the  usage  of  soter  in  the  primitive  period  of  Christianity 
reveals  an  interesting  situation.  Soter  occurs  twenty-four  times 
in  the  New  Testament.  In  eight  instances  the  reference  is  to  God,  in 
sixteen  instances  the  reference  is  to  Jesus.  Soter  has  more  than 
descriptive  function  in  only  twelve  instances  where  employed  of 
Jesus.  One  of  these  twelve  instances  is  the  somewhat  doubtful  case 
in  Ephesians.  Eleven  of  the  instances  where  soter  has  title  value  or  is 
a  name  are  found  in  the  late  writings  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the 

''  Excerpta  43:4;  quotations  from  Staehlin's  edition  of  Clement,  Leipzig  1909, 
volume  3;  what  is  Valentinian  gnosticism  and  what  hails  from  Clement  is  not  as  yet 
precisely  determined,  see  Otto  Dibelius  in  Zeitschrift  fuer  die  N.  T.  Wissenschaft  1908, 
p.  230  ff. 

^2  Citations  from  edition  of  Brooke,  A.  E.,  Texts  and  Studies,  Cambridge,  1891, 
volume  I  #4. 

73  Eusebius  H.  E.  II,  23. 

'*  Epistle  to  Diognetus  9:6. 


20  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

pastoral  epistles,  In  the  Johannlne  literature  and  in  Second  Peter.  We 
twice  met  with  the  expression  **our  God  and  soter  Jesus  Christ." 
There  is  but  one  instance  in  the  entire  New  Testament  where  soter 
has  become  a  name  and  even  here  it  accompanies  another  title. ^'^  The 
earlier  strata  of  the  New  Testament  do  not  at  all  contain  the  term 
soter  whether  with  literal  or  technical  significance.  The  Markan 
narrative,  the  Q  source,  the  material  peculiar  to  Matthew,  the  material 
peculiar  to  Luke  with  the  exception  of  the  infancy  section  do  not 
record  a  single  instance  of  the  employment  of  soter.  Soter  is  not  to  be 
discovered  in  the  sayings  of  Jesus  or  among  the  titles  appropriated  by 
him  or  assigned  to  him  by  his  immediate  interpreters.  Soter  with 
more  than  descriptive  force  is  lacking  in  the  entire  Pauline  corres- 
pondence unless  the  doubtful  case  in  Ephesians  is  assigned  to  him.^^ 
The  search  for  the  word  soter  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the 
Epistle  of  James,  I  Peter,  the  Didache,  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  and 
the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  would  be  fruitless.  Further  I  Clement  has 
only  one  Instance  of  soter  and  even  here  the  reference  is  not  to  Jesus. 
For  some  three  decades  or  more  of  Its  history,  the  primitive  Christian 
community  consistently  refrained  from  calling  Jesus  who  was  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Lord,  who  had  come  to  save,  soter.  To 
appreciate  the  meaning  of  all  this,  consider  the  frequency  with  which 
Jesus  Is  called  the  Christ  or  Son  of  Man  or  Lord  and  recall  how  appro- 
priate and  essential  the  title  soter  would  have  been.  In  the  corres- 
pondence of  Paul  there  are  "nearly  350  occurrences  of  Christos."'''' 
Kyrios  Is  applied  to  Jesus  400  times  within  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament.  Son  of  Man,  a  title  which  practically  disappears  after 
the  gospels,  Is  used  of  Jesus  more  than  four  score  times.  But  soter 
as  a  definite  title  enters  Christian  literature  in  the  pastoral  epistles. 
The  absolute  ho  soter  without  accompanying  genitive  or  additional 
title  is  not  attested  until  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  At 
that  time  it  is  the  favorite  name  for  Jesus  among  the  Gnostics, 
although  more  orthodox  groups  of  Christians  also  frequently  employ 
it  and  apparently  feel  no  repugnance  toward  it.  There  are  some 
Christian  communities  which  even  about  A.  D.  150  do  not  make  use 
of  the  name  soter.    From  Irenaeus  onward  soter  as  a  name  is  general. 

76 II  Peter  3:2. 

7' The  instance  in  Philippians  3:20  is  descriptive,  indefinite  and  accompanied  by  ex- 
planatory phrase.  Moreover  it  has  no  title  value  and  implies  a  contrast  with  the  soteres 
of  the  Graeco-Roman  civilization  and  refers  to  the  parousia  of  the  reigning  and  exalted 
"second  man."  Is  it  original?  Is  Paul  making  use  of  one  of  the  inferior  meanings  at- 
taching occasionally  to  theos-soter  in  the  Graeco-Roman  usage  (see  Harnack,  History  of 
Dogma  I,  119  note  2)?   Yor:  Paul's  own  feeling,  compare  part  IV,  14  (2)  of  this  study. 

"  Case,  S.  J.,  in  Journal  of  Biblical  Literature  1907  p.  153. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  21 

Merely  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  we  may  add  that  the  tendency 
to  employ  soter  as  title  or  name  for  Jesus  was  retarded  among  the 
Latin  Christian  writers  because  soter  had  no  Latin  equivalent  and 
modified  because  the  Latin  word  chosen  to  represent  soter  had  no 
historical  background.  Martianus  Capella  states  that  Cicero  refused 
to  call  soter ^  salvator  but  used  as  circumlocution  "who  provided 
deliverance."  In  this  way  the  Latin  stylist  avoided  an  unusual  word." 
Augustine  commenting  on  the  text,  "faithful  is  the  saying  and  worthy 
of  all  acceptation  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners;  of  whom  I  am  the  chief""  remarks  that  Christ  Jesus  denotes 
Christ  the  soter^  that  the  Latin  equivalent  for  Jesus  is  salvator^  that 
the  scruples  of  the  grammarians  are  overcome  by  the  Christian  fact 
of  salvation,  that  salus  is  a  Latin  word,  that  salvare  and  salvator  were 
not  Latin  until  the  Salvator  came,  that  his  coming  made  these  words 
Latin. 80  Tertullian  wrestles  with  the  same  problem  because  salvator 
is  not  for  him  the  actual  equivalent  of  soter.  Hence  he  usually  em- 
ploys circumlocutions,  although  salvator  also  occurs. ^^  Tertullian  has 
I  Thessalonians  5:23  in  the  "Lord  and  soter'  form,  using  salutifica- 
toris  for  soter.^"^  Cyprian  has  salvator  at  least  twice. ^3  Salvator  is  also 
Jerome's  choice  for  soter.^*  With  the  exception  of  Luke  1:47  where  it 
has  salutari,  the  Vulgate  employs  salvator  for  soter.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Beza's  Latin  New  Testament  uses  servator  for  soter  with 
the  exception  of  Ephesians  5:23,  where  he  reads  "u  est  qui  salutem 
dat'*  and  I  Timothy  4:10  where  he  reads  conservator. 

The  data,  then,  in  case  of  the  primitive  Christian  usage  of  soter 
show  that  soter  is  a  term  at  first  deliberately  avoided  by  the  church 
and  only  very  gradually  appropriated  by  the  church  as  a  title  and 
name  for  Jesus.  The  remainder  of  this  investigation  will  seek  to 
ascertain  the  reasons  for  this  development. 


^8  De  Nupt.  Phil,  et  Merc.  V,  510. 

79 1  Timothy  1:15. 

80  Augustine  Sermo  299,  6. 

8'  Adversus  Marc.  Ill,  18. 

8-^  Adv.  Marc.  V,  15  cf  also  IV,  23  salus. 

83  Treatise  XII  2:7,  3:11,  Migne  Pat.  Lat.  4  col.  731,  769. 

8^  Migne  Pat.  Lat.  26  col.  18,  34,  36,  etc. 


III. 

.     THE  SOURCES  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOTER  IDEA 

The  primitive  Christian  met  the  soter  terminology  in  two  principal 
sources.     One  of  these  was  the  Jewish   scriptures   and   connected 
literature;  the  other  was  the  religious  life  of  the  Roman  empire. 
9.     The  Jewish   scriptures   and    other   Jewish    productions   as   the 
source  of  the  soter  terminology. 

When  the  Jewish  or  Gentile  primitive  Christian  read  the  scriptures, 
he  came  upon  the  word  soter.  Heroic  men  are  styled  mosi  occa- 
sionally in  the  literature  of  the  Old  Testament."  But  mosi  is  far  more 
frequently  employed  of  Yahweh.  Thus  Isaiah  43:3  "For  I  am 
Yahweh,  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  thy  Savior;"  Isaiah  43:11 
"I  even  I  am  Yahweh;  and  besides  me  there  is  no  Savior;"  Micah  7:1 
*'But  as  for  me  I  will  look  unto  Yahweh;  I  will  wait  for  the  God  of  my 
salvation. "86  Xhe  Greek  Old  Testament  translates  most  by  sozon  or 
eis  soterian,  rarely  by  soter.  On  the  other  hand  it  prevailingly  renders 
yift  with  pronominal  suffix  by  soter.  The  phrase  ''God  our  Savior" 
is  found  in  the  prophets"  and  far  more  frequently  in  the  psalter.^s  In 
the  extra-canonical  Jewish  literature  such  as  Ecclesiasticus,  Macca- 
bees, Psalms  of  Solomon,  Wisdom,  soter  also  occurs. ^^  The  usage  of  the 
Psalms  of  Solomon  indicates  not  only  the  popularity  of  soter  as  a 
religious  term,  but  also  its  restriction  to  God:  "the  stability  of  the 
righteous  is  from  God  their  soter;  and  we  will  not  depart  from  thee, 
for  thy  judgments  are  good;  upon  us  and  our  children  is  thy  good  will 
forever,  O  Lord  God,  our  soter,  and  we  shall  not  be  shaken  again  for- 
ever; when  Israel  went  forth  into  captivity  to  a  strange  land  because 
they  departed  from  the  Lord  their  soter;  he  pricked  me,  like  the  spur 
of  the  horseman,  according  to  his  watchfulness:  my  soter  and  my 
helper  at  all  times  is  he;  he  saved  me:  I  will  praise  thee,  O  God,  because 
thou  hast  helped  me  with  thy  salvation:  and  has  not  reckoned  me 
with  sinners  for  destruction;  O  Lord,  thou  art  our  king,  now  and  for- 
ever: for  in  thee,  O  God,  our  soul  shall  glory.  And  what  is  the  life  of 
man  upon  the  earth.?  for  according  to  his  time,  so  also  is  his  hope. 

85  Judges  3:9,  15;  II  Kings  13:5;  Neh.  9:27. 

86  See  also  Isaiah  45:15,  21,  63:8;  Hosea  13:4;  II  Samuel  22:3;  Hab.  3:18. 
"  Micah  7:7;  Isaiah  12:2,  17:10;  Hab.  3:18. 

88  Psalm  24:5,  25:5,  27:1,  9,  62:37,  65:6,  79:9,  95:1. 

89  Eccles.  51:1,  I  Maccabees  4:30,  III  Mac.  6:29,  32,  7:16;  Wisdom  16:7. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  23 

But  we  hope  in  God  our  soter.'^^^  We  may  conclude  that  the  idea 
which  the  primitive  Christian  from  his  perusal  of  the  holy  literature 
of  Judaism  usually  associated  with  soter  was  theos. 

The  vast  body  of  extra-canonical  Jewish  literature  known  as  the 
Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  contains  a  great  variety  of  titles  for 
the  Messiah,  such  as  Son  of  Man,  Elect  One,  the  Righteous, 
the  Lord's  Annointed,  the  Holy  Prince,  my  Son,  the  Coming 
One,  the  Sprout,  and  even  the  Leper.'i  But  in  the  entire 
Jewish  literature  kyrios  as  title  for  Messiah  does  not  appear.'^  The 
same  reserve  would  seem  to  hold  with  reference  to  soter  as  title  for 
Messiah. 93  This  avoidance  of  the  title  soter  is  very  noticeable  in  the 
thirteenth  chapter  of  IV  Ezra  where  the  context  demands  the  title 
*' soter  of  the  world":  ** Whereas  thou  didst  see  a  man  coming  up 
from  the  heart  of  the  sea:  this  is  he  whom  the  Most  High  is  keeping 

many  ages  and  through  whom  he  will  redeem  his  creation 

Behold,  the  days  come  when  the  Most  High  is  about  to  redeem  them 

that  are  upon  the  earth But  the  survivors  of  the  people, 

even  those  who  are  found  within  my  holy  border  shall  be  saved." 

It  should  also  be  recalled  that  the  Messiah  is  not  an  essential  ele- 
ment of  the  eschatology  of  Israel  and  Judaism.  Writings  like  Isaiah 
24-27,  Daniel,  Enoch  1-36,  Jubilees,  and  others  fail  to  mention  him. 
Yahweh  is  soter.  "In  the  Old  Testament  it  is  God  who  is  for  Israel 
redeemer,  liberator,  Savior,  deliverer  and  never  the  Messiah;  and  no 
similar  agency  is  there  ascribed  to  the  latter."^* 

In  the  later  development  of  Jewish  eschatology,  the  Messiah  is 
sometimes  described  not  only  as  prince  of  a  redeemed  people  but  also 
as  a  redeemer.  Passages  like  Sibylline  Oracles  III  652  fF.,  Baruch 
39:7,  40:1  fF.,  70:9,  72:2-6;  IV  Ezra  12:32  fF.  depict  the  Messiah  as 
participating  in  the  redemptive  program  but  do  not  call  him  soter. 
For  Testament  of  Levi  2:10,  Charles  prefers  the  reading  "and  shall 
proclaim  concerning  the  redemption  of  Israel. "^^  And  the  other 
reading  "concerning  him  who  shall  redeem  Israel"  {tou  mellontos 
lutrousthai)  would  not  furnish  an  instance  of  soter.  As  far  as  the 
Shemoneh  Esreh  is  concerned,  the  first  petition  employs  go'el  (lu- 

90  Psalms  of  Solomon  3:6,  8:39,  9:1,  16:4,  17:2. 

91  Enoch  37-71 ;  IV  Ezra  7:13 ;  Ps.  of  Solomon,  Sibylline  Oracles  III49;  IV  Ezra  7:21  ff, 
13:32,  37,  52,  14:9,  etc.,  see  Bousset,  Religion  des  Judentums  p.  305. 

92  Boehlig,  H.,  Zum  BegrifF  Kyrios  bei  Paulus,  Zeitschrift  fuer  N.  T.  Wissenschaft 
1913  p.  27. 

®3  No  reference  in  either  the  Oxford  or  Kautzsch  index. 

^  Dalman,  Words  of  Jesus,  Edinburgh,  1902,  p.  295. 

^*  Charles,  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  London,  1908,  p.  30. 


24  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 


trotes)  of  the  one  who  is  to  redeem  posterity,  while  God  is  called  most 
(salvator,  soter).    Indeed  the  seventh  petition  plainly  states  that  God 
and  God  alone  is  Israel's  redeemer.    The  reason  for  the  omission  of 
the  title  soter  in  case  of  the  Messiah  appears  to  be  that  it  came  to  be 
reserved  for  God. 

Attention  should  now  be  given  to  the  usage  of  Josephus  and  Philo 
in  order  to  ascertain  whether  it  confirms  or  contradicts  the  result  thus 
far  obtained.  An  original  and  independent  examination  of  the  Niese 
text  of  the  twenty  books  of  the  "Antiquities  of  the  Jews"  by  Josephus 
shows  that  the  verb  sozo  with  its  compounds  and  cognates  occurs  over 
215  times.  The  noun  soter  appears  seven  times.  In  five  of  these 
seven  instances  soter  is  to  be  capitalized  because  title.  Thus  in  XII  3, 
"and  the  cities  were  sufferers,  and  lost  a  great  many  of  their  inhab- 
itants in  these  times  of  distress,  insomuch  that  all  Syria,  by  the  means 
of  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  underwent  the  reverse  of  that  title  of 
Soter,  which  he  then  had."  XII  11,  "When  Alexander  had  reigned 
twelve  years  and  after  him  Ptolemy  Soter  forty  years;"  XII  223  "at 
this  time  Seleucus  who  was  called  Soter  reigned  over  Asia;"  XIII  222 
"But  Antiochus,  the  brother  of  Demetrius,  who  was  called  Soter, 
wandered  about  and  was  not  admitted  to  any  of  the  cities  on  account 
of  Trypho;"  XIII  271  "He  was  the.  son  of  Antiochus  that  was  called 
Soter,  who  died  in  Parthia."  In  only  two  instances  does  soter  occur 
with  other  than  title  value.  One  of  these  is  VI  240  "So  David  ap- 
peared and  fell  at  Jonathan's  feet  and  bowed  down  to  him  and  called 
him  the  soter  of  his  soul."  Here  soter  obviously  is  employed  with 
merely  literal  significance  and  is  limited  by  a  definite  genitive.  The 
remaining  instance  oi  soter  in  the  "Antiquities  of  the  Jews"  is  found  in 
XIV  444  "and  these  called  Herod  their  soter  and  protector."  Herod 
on  his  way  to  join  Antony  then  besieging  Samosata  on  the  Euphrates 
arrives  at  Antioch.  Considerable  forces  are  assembled  there  with  the 
purpose  of  reaching  Antony  but  afraid  to  venture  forth  because  the 
barbarians  are  in  possession  of  the  roads.  Herod  assumes  the  leader- 
ship. Two  days  march  from  Samosata,  the  barbarians  suddenly 
attack  and  succeed  in  routing  the  advance  guards  of  Herod.  But 
Herod  riding  hard  arrives  in  time  to  instill  courage  into  the  defeated 
troops,  drives  back  the  barbarians,  rescues  the  baggage,  and  puts  the 
main  body  of  the  enemy  to  flight.  For  thus  clearing  the  roads  and 
rescuing  a  considerable  portion  of  the  forces  intent  on  aiding  Antony, 
Herod  was  called  "their  soter  and  protector." 

This  survey  of  the  usage  of  the  "Antiquities  of  the  Jews"  with 


AS   TITLE    AND   NAME    OF   JESUS  25 

reference  to  the  word  soter  proves  that  the  Jewish  historian  does  not 
have  a  single  instance  of  the  absolute  use  of  soter  and  that  he  himself 
refrains  entirely  from  employing  jo^^r.  To  his  own  vocabulary  jo^^r  is 
alien.  It  is  only  in  those  instances  where  as  historian  he  considers 
himself  to  be  relating  what  took  place  that  he  employs  soter  at  all.  In- 
asmuch as  the  history  of  Israel  abounds  with  experience  upon  experi- 
ence of  rescue  by  Yahweh  and  those  sent  by  Yahweh  and  further  in- 
asmuch as  there  are  sections  in  the  history  of  Josephus  where  sozo 
and  its  cognates  occur  repeatedly  in  rapid  succession, 9«  his  failure  to 
employ  soter  can  be  explained  only  on  the  ground  of  intention. 

We  might  expect  the  usage  of  Philo  to  be  at  variance  with  what  has 
thus  far  been  noted.  Philo  as  pre-eminent  allegorist  should  hardly  be 
expected  to  conform.  Philo  could  have  filled  soter  with  another,  a 
deeper  significance.  But  Philo  reserves  soter  for  God.  Soter  occurs 
once  in  the  treatise  **  About  the  Contemplative  Life,"^^  once  in  that 
"On  the  Creation  of  the  World, "^s  once  in  that  **0n  the  Migration  of 
Abraham";'^  twice  in  **Why  God  is  Unchangeable. "i""  In  all  of  these 
instances  the  reference  is  to  God.  Our  investigation  has  proceeded 
far  enough  to  indicate  that  Philo  is  acquainted  with  the  combina- 
tion theos  soter  and  that  he  therefore  restricts  soter  to  God.'^^ 

Hence  our  conclusion  regarding  the  usage  of  soter  in  the  Jewish 
scriptures  and  Jewish   productions  in  general  should   be  that  it  is 
usually  associated  with  and  generally  restricted  to  God. 
10.  The  history  of  the  jo^^r  idea  in  the  Graeco-Roman  civilization. '"^ 

The  second  way  in  which  the  primitive  Christian  became  familiar 
with  the  soter  idea  was  through  contact  with  the  religious  life  of  the 
Roman  empire.  Before  proceeding  to  examine  the  content  of  the  idea 
in  the  civilization  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world  in  the  time  of  Paul  it 

'®  e.  g.,  II  134-147  covering  little  more  than  a  solid  page  and  one-half  of  Niese,  con- 
cerning the  finding  of  the  cup  in  Benjamin's  bag,  sozo  and  cognates  occur  eight  times  but 
soter  not  once. 

"  Mangey  II,  485. 

38  Ibid.  I,  41. 

®'  Ibid.  I,  455,  while  sozo  and  cognates  occur  nine  times,  Mangey  I  436,  438,  440,  455 
(five  times)  461. 

'""  Ibid.  I,  293,  296,  while  sozo  and  its  cognates  occur  nine  times  (Mangey  I,  275,  283 
(twice)  284,  291,  292  (twice),  293,  296). 

'"'  Madden,  F.  W.,  Coins  of  the  Jews,  Boston,  1881,  has  no  instance  o{  soter, 

^^  This  section  is  based  on:  Lietzmann,  Der  Weltheiland,  Bonn,  1909;  Roscher  under 
soter;  Bousset,  Kyrios  Christos,  Goettingen,  1913,  Hauptprobleme  der  Gnosis,  Goet- 
tingen,  1907,  Theologischer  Rundschau,  1912,  p.  41  fF251  ff.  Gnosticism  in  Encyclopedia 
Brittanica;  Wendland  in  Zeitschrift  fuer  die  N.  T.  Wissenschaft  1904  p.  335  ff;  Harnack, 
Reden  und  Aufsaetze,  (liessen,  1904,  I  307  fF;  Wobbermin,  Religioese  Studien,  Berlin, 
1896;  Wagner,  Zeitschrift  fuer  die  N.  T.  Wissenschaft,  1905,  p.  205  fF;  Case,  Evolution 
of  Early  Christianity,  Chicago,  1914;  k.  t.  e. 


26  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

will  be  worth-while  to  consider  the  usual  objection  that  primitive 
Christianity  was  in  no  wise  subject  to  such  an  influence.  One  of  the 
comfortable  axioms  of  yesterday  when  there  was  no  science  of  the  his- 
tory of  religion  to  raise  perplexing  questions  of  origin,  when  there  was 
no  psychology  of  religion  to  focus  attention  on  mental  processes  and 
the  religious  phenomena  of  the  race,  when  the  sands  of  Egypt  and  the 
mounds  of  the  Euphrates  valley  had  not  yielded  their  treasures,  was 
that  Christianity  had  been  planted  in  a  special  area  and  was  averse 
to  amalgamation  with  Hellenism.  It  is  even  now  dogmatically 
stated  that  Paul  owes  nothing  to  Graeco-Roman  culture. ^^^  But  long 
since  the  comparativist  has  disproved  this  assumption.  Today  there 
is  insistence  on  relativity,  subjectivity,  development.  The  New 
Testament  is  understood  to  be  a  documentary  deposit  of  primitive 
Christianity  laid  down  in  a  definite  environment.  Long  before  the 
period  of  the  New  Testament,  Judaism,  in  spite  of  the  Maccabean 
particularism,  had  been  modified  by  Greek  ideas,  as  during  the  pre- 
vious centuries  by  Babylonian,  Egyptian  and  Persian  ideas. i°*  A  sig- 
nificant stratum  of  Hellenism  had  been  laid  over  Semitic  civilization. 
Such  a  chapter  as  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Acts  with  his  recognition 
of  the  religion  of  Greece,  with  its  allusion  to  the  unknown  God,  with 
its  emphasis  on  the  divine  descent  of  the  human  race  and  the  unity  of 
humanity  simply  compels  the  assumption  of  syncretistic  influence. 
Had  not  the  Old  Testament  been  translated  into  Greek  and  thereby 
opened  Judaism  to  the  powerful  modification  of  the  Greek  religious 
terminology?  A  few  years  ago  it  was  still  being  asserted  that  over 
five  hundred  words  of  the  New  Testament  vocabulary  of  some  five 
thousand  words  were  **  biblical."  At  present  there  are  less  than  fifty 
words  of  the  New  Testament  vocabulary  not  attested  in  the  common 
or  literary  language  of  the  Greeks.  It  must  now  be  granted  that 
there  was  pre-Christian  gnosticism,  that  gnostic  opposition  to  the 
God  of  the  Old  Testament  implies  contact  with  the  religion  of  the 
synagogue. 

Paul  was  by  birth  an  Aramaic-speaking  Jew.  He  received  the 
training  of  a  rabbi.  But  Paul  was  also  a  child  of  the  diaspora.  Dur- 
ing the  most  impressionable  years  of  his  life,  he  lived  at  Tarsus.  The 
second  half  of  his  career  was  passed  in  the  Graeco-Roman  world. 

^°^  See,  e.  g.,  Headlam,  St,  Paul  and  Christianity,  p.  IX. 

'•^  Cf  Ezekiel  8:14,  16;  Jer.  44:24;  Skinner  on  Genesis  p.  85;  Barton  in  Studies  in  the 
History  of  Religion  presented  to  C.  H.  Toy,  New  York,  1912,  p.  187  fF;  Wendland, 
Kultur  p.  293;  Isaiah  10:4,  17:10,  11,  I  Kings  12:24  according  to  LXX;  Jerome,  letter 
58  section  3. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  27 

Paul  learned  and  employed  the  Greek  language.  The  acquisition  of  a 
language  is  never  a  purely  formal  and  external  affair.  A  new  language 
mediates  new  ideas.  Paul  prevailingly  quotes  from  the  Greek  Old 
Testament.  Paul  was  familiar  with  the  Greek  book  of  Wisdom  and 
with  the  syncretistic  Jewish  eschatology.  The  analogy  of  the  body 
found  in  Paul  occurs  also  in  Cicero,  Livy,  Seneca,  Epictetus,  Marcus 
Aurelius.  The  various  sin  catalogues  that  feature  the  Pauline  cor- 
respondence have  parallels  among  the  Stoics.  Such  words  as  law, 
works,  propitiation,  faith,  man's  "righteousness,"  **God's  righteous- 
ness," reveal  the  Jew.  But  such  words  as  spirit,  flesh,  death  of 
Christ,  union  of  all  Christians  in  the  pneumatic  Christ,  gnosis, 
ecstacy  require  Greek  connections.  Paulinism  is  an  amalgam  of 
Pharisaic  juristic  elements  and  Hellenistic  mystical  elements.  "Mys- 
ticism did  not  grow  on  Jewish  soil."  Paul's  content  of  salvation  was 
largely  Hellenistic,  Jewish  monotheism  did  not  give  birth  to  Paul's 
idea  of  son  of  God.  An  illustration  or  two  should  show  Paul's  indebt- 
edness to  Hellenism.  Take  such  a  verse  as  I  Corinthians  15:22,  "For 
as  in  Adam  all  die,  so  also  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  What  is 
involved.?  All  that  participate  in  the  death  of  Adam  die,  all  that 
participate  in  the  life  of  Christ  live.  The  beginning  of  a  series  in- 
cludes the  succession.  The  idea  contains  the  individual  object.  The 
first  series  connects  with  its  head,  the  second  series  connects  with  its 
head.  This  is  the  logical,  mystical,  metaphysical  background  of  the 
argument.  But  the  metaphysical  and  mystical  approach  is  Greek. 
Or  take  the  preceding  section,  I  Corinthians  15:12-19,  where  Paul 
mentions  the  five-fold  consequences  of  denying  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  If  we  do  not  arise,  Christ  did  not.  What  is  the  underlying 
assumption.?  The  Christian  proclamation  is  that  Christ  arose  from 
the  dead.  But  we  are  one  with  him.  Therefore  his  resurrection 
signifies  our  resurrection.  Some  say  we  shall  not  arise.  But  Christ 
is  one  with  us.  Therefore  Christ  did  not  arise.  Who  can  read  the 
verses  without  recalling  how  intimately  the  mystery  religions  con- 
nect the  idea  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  initiate  with  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  the  god-savior.  Again  in  I  Corinthians 
15:44,  Paul  almost  identifies  psychikon  with  sarkikon.  Elsewhere 
he  practically  equates  psychikon  and  pneumatikon.  How  may  this 
difficulty  be  overcome.?  The  answer  is  furnished  by  the  mystery 
religions:  "where  the  psyche  is,  there  the  pneuma  may  not  be." 
It  may  therefore  no  longer  be  asserted  that  primitive  Christianity 
was  not  influenced  by  contact  with  Hellenism.     Indeed,  the  religious 


28  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

views  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world  must  be  ascertained  before  one 
may  be  certain  what  is  original  and  what  is  derived  in  Christianity. '"^ 

The  association  of  the  title  soter  with  the  Roman  emperors  brought 
it  vividly  to  the  attention  of  the  early  adherent  of  Jesus.  Augustus 
was  often  called  soter  in  inscription,  public  proclamation,  epic  poem. 
Thus  a  dozen  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  a  temple 
on  the  island  of  Philae  was  consecrated  to  Augustus  with  the  official 
inscription:     AuTOKparopL  Kalaapt  'EelSaarrjc  Scorrypt  Kal  Evepyerrji. 

Soter  as  title  of  Augustus  occurs  in  Greece,  Southern  Russia,  Asia 
Minor,  Egypt.  Land  in  the  vicinity  of  Ptolemais  was  dedicated  to 
Augustus  the  great  god  and  soter.  The  Egyptian  month  Payni  was 
called  Soter  in  his  honor. ^^^  It  might  seem  that  a  review  of  the  pre- 
ceding century  of  Roman  history  would  amply  justify  the  bestowal  of 
the  title  soter  on  Augustus.  There  had  been  civil  wars  to  the  number 
of  twelve.  Panics,  famines,  plundering  by  soldiers,  betrayals  of 
fathers  by  sons  and  husbands  by  wives,  taxes  imposed  on  women  had 
kept  things  in  ferment  at  Rome.  There  were  deliberate  legalized 
proscriptions  from  the  three  thousand  reputed  followers  of  Gracchus  to 
those  caught  in  the  net  of  Antony.  Political  assassinations  had  begun 
with  the  Gracchi  and  included  Caesar  and  Cicero  ere  they  were  done. 
The  road  from  Capua  to  Rome  had  looked  on  the  six  thousand  cruci- 
fied survivors  of  the  insurrection  managed  by  Spartacus.  Militarism 
was  running  riot;  Italy  was  being  depopulated;  economic  distress  was 
becoming  unbearable.  The  proscription  of  the  triumvirs  invited  to 
wholesale  frameups:  '*  those  who  kill  the  proscribed  and  bring  us 
their  heads  shall  receive  the  following  rewards:  to  a  freeman  25,000 
Attic  drachmas  per  head,  to  a  slave  his  freedom  and  10,000  Attic 
drachmas  and  his  master's  right  of  citizenship.  Informers  shall  re- 
ceive the  same  reward. ''^"^  The  imposition  of  taxes  on  women  called 
forth  the  opposition  and  the  eloquence  of  Hortensia:  "Why  should 
we  pay  taxes  when  we  have  no  part  in  the  honors,  the  commands,  the 
statecraft,  for  which  you  contend  against  each  other  with  such  harm- 
ful results.'*    'Because  this  is  a  time  of  war'  do  you  say.?    When  have 

'°^  For  all  references  to  the  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  see  Weiss,  J.,  in  Meyer  series  on 
Corinthians;  cf  Reitzenstein,  R.,  Die  hellenistische  Mysterienreligionen,  Leipzig,  1910, 
p.  43  f,  136  f  especially  154,  169  f,  172;  on  the  question  at  issue,  see  further  American 
Journal  of  Theology  1914,  p.  497  ff,  1917  p.  358  IF;  Matthews,  I.  J.,  The  Jewish  Apolo- 
getic to  the  Graeco-Roman  World  in  the  Apocryphal  and  Pseudepigraphical  Literature, 
Chicago,  1914;  Bousset,  Die  Religion  des  Judentums  (revised  edition  1906),  p.  540  fF. 

i«6  0tto,  Hermes,  Band  45  (1910),  p.  448  ff;  Dittenberger,  Orient  Inscript.  II  458; 
C.  I.  G.  2122. 

i»7  Appian,  The  Civil  Wars  IV,  §11. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  29 

there  not  been  warsP'^'^s  Augustus  had  finally  succeeded  in  abolish- 
ing civil  wars  and  insurrections,  had  established  law  and  order,  and 
had  brought  the  long  desired  golden  peace.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  he 
should  be  called  ''  soter  of  the  Greeks  and  of  the  whole  world  P''^^^ 

Horace  gives  beautiful  expression  to  the  reaction  of  the  common 
man  when  peace  finally  came: 

"From  gods  benign  descended,  thou 
Best  guardian  of  the  fates  of  Rome    .... 
For  safe  the  herds  range  field  and  fen 
Full-headed  stand  the  shocks  of  grain 
Our  sailors  sweep  the  peaceful  main 
And  man  can  trust  his  fellow  men.^'^i" 

"Long,  long  to  heaven  be  thy  return  delayed. "i'^ 
Virgil  voices  a  similar  sentiment: 

"Turn,  turn  thine  eyes!  see  here  thy  race  divine, 
Behold  thy  own  imperial  Roman  line: 
Caesar  with  all  the  Julian  name  survey. 
See  where  the  glorious  ranks  ascend  today! 
This,  this  is  he!  the  chief  so  long  foretold 
To  bless  the  land  where  Saturn  ruled  of  old. 
And  give  the  Latian  realm  a  second  age  of  gold! 
The  promised  prince,  Augustus  the  divine. 
Of  Caesar's  race  and  Jove's  immortal  line! 
This  mighty  chief  his  empire  shall  extend 
O'er  India's  realms  to  earth's  remotest  end."''^ 

But  the  hypothesis  that  the  title  soter  as  employed  of  Augustus 
developed  spontaneously  out  of  the  experience  of  deliverance  from 
the  confusion  and  chaos  of  the  preceding  century  cannot  be  sustained. 
For  the  same  title  is  used  of  Tiberius,  Claudius,  Nero,  Vespasian, 
Titus,  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Marcus  Aurelius  and  others.  Moreover,  we 
observed  such  expressions  as  "a  second  age  of  gold,"  "Augustus  the 
divine,"  "Jove's  immortal  line."  There  is  an  eschatological  back- 
ground here  and  the  God-King  and  God-Savior  conception  as  well. 
A  few  lines  from  the  fourth  Eclogue  of  Virgil  will  emphasize  the 
point. 

»»8  Ibid.  §32. 

'09  Inscrlpt.  Olymp.  366. 

""Odes  IV  5:1  ff. 

'"  Odes  I  2:41. 

"2  Aeneid  6:787  ff. 


30  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

"Lo  the  last  age  of  Cumae's  seer  has  come! 
Again  the  great  millenial  aeon  dawns    .... 
E*en  now  thy  brother,  Lord  of  Light  and  Healing, 
Apollo,  rules  and  ends  the  older  day    .... 
The  goats  shall  come  uncalled,  weighed  down  with  milk 
Nor  lion's  roar  affright  the  laboring  kine    .... 
The  treacherous  snake  and  deadly  herb  shall  die, 
And  Syrian  spikenard  grow  on  every  bark    .     .    . 
Nature  shall  give  new  colors  to  the  fleece. 
Soft  blushing  glow  of  crimson,  gold  of  crocus. 
And  lambs  be  clothed  in  scarlet  as  they  feed."ii' 

Such  views  of  the  new  age  are  not  peculiar  to  Roman  literature, 
as  we  well  know  and  as  a  few  illustrations  will  show."* 

**And  there  shall  come  forth  a  shoot  out  of  the  stock  of  Jesse 
And  a  branch  out  of  his  roots  shall  bear  fruit    .... 
And  the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb. 
And  the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid,    .... 
And  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox.""^ 
"For  the  age  is  hastening  fast  to  its  end    .... 
Then  shall  the  sun  suddenly  shine  forth  by  night  and  the  moon 

by  day; 
And  blood  shall  trickle  forth  from  the  wood,  and  the  stone  shall 

utter  its  voice 
The  peoples  shall  be  in  consummation,  the  outgoings  of  the  stars 

shall  change."ii6 

"And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  he  has  brought  low  everything 

that  is  in  the  world. 
And  has  sat  down  in  peace  for  the  age  on   the  throne  of  his 

kingdom 
That  joy  shall  be  revealed, 

^^'  Horace  in  his  Carmen  Saeculare  manifests  the  same  hope;  his  sixteenth  epode  is 
pessimistic: 

"Back  unrepentant  we  will  veer  the  sail 
When  Po  shall  lave  the  summits  of  Matinus; 
When  into  ocean  juts  the  Apennine; 
When  herds  no  longer  fear  the  tawny  lion; 
When  nature's  self  becomes  unnatural." 

"*  Compare  Bousset,  Religion  des  Judentums  p.  258  fF;  Oesterley,  W.  0.  E.,  The 
Evolution  of  the  Messianic  Idea,  London,  1908. 
"Msaiah  11. 
"« IV  Ezra  4:26,  50  f,  5:4  f. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  31 

And  rest  shall  appear, 

And  then  shall  healing  descend  in  dew, 

And  disease  shall  withdraw 

And  anxiety  and   anguish   and  lamentation   pass  from   among 

men    .... 
And  wild  beasts  shall  come  forth  from  their  holes  and  submit 

themselves  to  the  little  child 
And  the  reapers  shall  not  grow  weary 
Nor  those  that  build  be  toilworn    .     .     .     .""^ 

"Therefore  at  that  time  the  retribution  of  the  sinful  shall  be   .    .    . 
And  so  may  we  be  such  as  make  the  world  renewed 
For  at  the  dispensation  the  blow  of  the  annihilation  of  falsehood 
shall  fall.^ns 

The  eschatological  emphasis  of  the  Roman  poets  urged  us  to  enter 
the  syncretistic  area  of  the  Graeco-Roman  civilization.  The  reference 
to  the  God-Savior  idea  and  the  God-king  idea  also  forces  us  to  con- 
sider the  wider  history  of  the  soter  concept.  For  the  God-king  idea 
is  of  Oriental  ancestryi^^  and  the  God-Savior  idea  is  of  Greek  origin. 
The  epithets  soter  and  soteira  were  applied  to  numerous  Greek  and 
non-Greek  gods  and  goddesses.  More  than  two  score  gods  and 
goddesses  are  thus  described.  Among  the  goddesses  were  Aphrodite, 
Artemis,  Athena,  Demeter,  Hecate,  Hera,  Hygieia,  Kore,  Nike,  Roma, 
Themis,  Tyche;  among  the  gods  were  Apollo,  Asclepius,  Dionysus, 
Hades,  Helios,  Hermes,  Poseidon,  Telesphorus,  and  Zeus.^^o  Thirty- 
five  columns  in  Roscher  are  devoted  to  the  mere  cataloging  in  fine 
print  of  attestations  of  soter.  Practically  every  country  of  the 
Mediterranean  world  has  yielded  coin  or  votive  tablet  or  altar  in- 
scription or  some  other  evidence  of  soter.  One  living  in  the  time  of 
Paul  could  hardly  escape  acquaintance  with  some  theos  soter.  Some 
four  score  localities,  dotting  the  Roman  empire,  furnish  eloquent  evi- 

"7 II  Baruch  73,  74. 

"*  Avesta  Yasht  30:8  f;  Carpenter,  J.  E.,  The  Historical  Jesus,  p.  64:  "  But  even  the 
old  Avesta  announces  the  advent  of  a  Savior  (Saoshyant)  who  should  be  the  helper  or 
agent  in  the  great  consummation." 

"'  See,  e.  g.,  Breasted,  Development  of  Religion  and  Thought  in  Ancient  Egypt, 
New  York,  1912,  p.  ISfF,  328,  331,  336,  367;  Reitzenstein,  Poimandres  309  fF;  Case, 
Evolution  of  Early  Christianity  197  fF, 

^2°  For  the  best  recent  list,  see  Roscher  (Hoefer),  Ausfuehrlicher  Lex.  der  griech.  und 
roem.  Mythologie  1913,  Lieferung  66/7  col.  1236  fF;  earlier  lists  in  Preller,  Griech. 
Mythologie  Berlin,  1894,  see  index;  Dittenberger,  Sylloge  Reg.  IV  1;  the  Harvard  Col- 
lection of  Coins,  Period  III  A(B.  C.  400-336)  #8  Cyzicus  jo/nVa  of  Demeter  or  Per- 
sephone period  VI  (B.  C.  190-100)  B  #6  Thasos  Herakleous  soteros  Thasion,  #7  Thrace 
Herakleous  soteros  Thrakon. 


32  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

dence  of  the  widespread  popularity  of  the  soter  title  for  Zeus.  The  next 
most  popular  theos  soter  was  Asclepius.  From  its  ancient  seat  in 
Thessaly,  this  cult  had  spread  to  Boeotia,  Epidaurus,  Achaia,  Arcadia, 
the  islands,  Asia  Minor  and  the  West.  Hundreds  of  Asklepieia  are 
attested  in  epigraphical  and  in  literary  sources.  121  The  localities  of  the 
Asclepius  cult  include  such  towns  as  Athens,  Pergamum,  Rome, 
Smyrna,  Thyatira,  Tralles.  The  possibility  of  Christian  involvement 
is  at  once  noticeable.  Eusebius  pays  special  attention  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  temple  of  Asclepius  in  Cilicia,  describing  the  god  of  heal- 
ing as  the  "demon  worshipped  in  Cilicia  whom  thousands  regarded 
with  reverence  as  the  possessor  of  saving  and  healing  power,  who  drew 
his  worshippers  from  the  true  Savior."^22  Qn  the  coins  that  passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  on  statue  in  marketplace  or  along  the  roadside,  in 
local  cults,  in  mystery  religion  convocations,  on  altar  and  on  temple 
the  inhabitant  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world  beheld  soter.  That  world 
was  filled  with  known  and  unknown  theoi  soteres.  No  living  person 
could  escape  contact  with  some  theos  soter. 

A  very  complicated  soteriology  characterizes  gnosticism  and  the 
mystery  religions.  In  both  a  soter  appears  somewhere.  Recent  in- 
vestigation has  shown  that  gnosticism  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as 
the  "acute  hellenization  of  Christianity.'*  Christian  gnosticism  is 
merely  the  amalgamation  of  existing  gnosticism  with  Christian  con- 
ceptions. "The  actual  ancestry  of  gnosticism  is  now  understood  to 
be  pre-Christian  Oriental  mysticism."  Gnosis  is  not  intellectual 
knowing,  but  marvellous,  revealed  wisdom  communicated  and  re- 
ceived in  ecstasy  or  in  connection  with  the  ritual.  Gnosticism  is 
theosophy  rather  than  philosophy.  The  goal  in  gnosticism  is  salva- 
tion. The  gnostic  systems  tell  in  detail  how  the  deity  grants  salva- 
tion to  the  individual.  The  Valentinian  system  illustrates  how  the  his- 
torical Jesus  was  simply  grafted  upon  an  already  existing  complicated 
theology.  There  was  a  myth  relating  to  the  holy  wedding  of  the  two 
deities,  the  Soter  and  Sophia;  this  union  was  typical  of  the  anticipated 
union  of  the  immortal  being  of  the  gnostic  with  heavenly  spiritual 
powers.  In  the  primitive  gnostic  soteriology,  the  divine  Soter  de- 
scends to  Hades  to  release  the  fallen  and  imprisoned  Sophia.  In  the 
later,  historical  redemption  through  Jesus,  this  ancient  Soter  is  merely 
brought  into  relation  with  Jesus.    The  point  we  are  at  present  inter- 

121  Roscher  I,  1,  620  ff  (c.  1886)  had  catalogued  320;  Walton,  Cult  of  Asklepios, 
Ithaca,  1894,  is  not  at  all  complete;  cf  also  Preller,  525,  note  1;  Harnack,  Expansion  of 
Christianity  I  121-151. 

^--  Eusebius  Vita  Const,  3,  56, 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  33 

ested  in  observing  is  that  gnosticism  prior  to  merging  with  Christian- 
ity makes  use  of  a  primitive,  heavenly,  divine  Soter.^^^ 

The  recent  extensive  study  of  the  various  mystery  religions  has 
demonstrated  that  the  end  in  view  is  salvation. ^^4  Xhe  mystery 
religions  were  religions  of  redemption.     The  method  of  obtaining 

123  Bousset,  Hauptprobleme  der  Gnosis  263  fF,  Theolog.  Rundschau,  1912,  p.  41  fF, 
251  fF,  article  Gnosticism,  Encyl,  Brittanica. 

124  Asterius,  Horn.  X  (Migne  40:324):  ho  polus  kai  anarithmos  demos  ten  soterian 
auton  einai  nomizousi  ta  en  to  skoto  para  ton  duo  prattomena;  Firmicus  Maternus  de 
errore  pr.  rel.  XXII,  1 :  tharreite  mustai  estai  gar  hemin  ek  ponou  soteria;  cf  Tertullian  de 
haer.  40;  Reitzenstein,  Poimandres  p.  178,  etc. 

We  must  content  ourselves  with  the  description  of  but  one  of  these  religions  of  re- 
demption and  select  the  Isis-Serapis  mystery  religion  for  which  there  is  somewhat 
abundant  material.  About  the  middle  of  the  second  pre-Christian  century,  the  Isis  re- 
ligion appears  in  Italy.  A  hundred  years  later  it  is  established  at  Rome.  It  was  A.  D. 
560  before  Christianity  with  imperial  assistance  finally  triumphed  over  it.  In  the 
eleventh  book  of  the  Metamorphoses  of  Apuleius  there  is  a  record  of  the  experience  of 
Apuleius  in  becoming  an  adherent  of  the  Isis  religion.  Apuleius  conceals  his  experience 
by  a  literary  device  in  which  Lucius,  the  hero  of  the  romance,  is  turned  into  an  ass  be- 
cause of  a  careless  magical  experiment.  After  a  series  of  extraordinary  adventures,  he 
finally  manages  to  escape  and  finds  himself  on  the  strand  of  Cenchreae.  As  he  beholds 
the  moon  in  the  evening  sky,  he  prays  to  the  goddess  of  the  sky  for  help.  A  form  of  won- 
derful beauty  appears  to  him  and  reveals  herself  as  Isis.  She  directs  him  to  approach  her 
high-priest  at  the  festival  in  her  honor  and  to  steal  a  few  roses  from  the  wreath  in  the 
priest's  hand.  These  are  to  enable  him  to  become  himself  again.  An  impressive  descrip- 
tion of  the  procession  of  the  Isis  community  follows.  Lucius  does  as  instructed  and  is 
restored  to  human  shape.  He  thereupon  dedicates  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  goddess. 
He  becomes  a  novice  and  passes  through  the  various  grades  of  initiation  into  the 
mysteries.  The  process  of  initiation  begins  with  the  mention  of  the  name  of  the  candi- 
date who  desires  to  affiliate  with  the  movement.  The  novitiate  dedicates  himself  to  the 
holy  militant  service  of  the  goddess,  pledging  unconditioned  obedience  and  service  to 
her.  He  is  thenceforward  in  the  douleia  of  the  goddess.  He  remains  for  some  time  in 
the  temple  of  Isis.  The  duration  of  the  novitiate  is  determined  by  the  goddess  herself. 
She  must  appear  in  a  dream  to  the  candidate  informing  him  that  the  time  for  consecra- 
tion has  come  and  must  likewise  reveal  herself  to  the  priest  who  is  to  officiate.  Only  at 
great  risk  may  the  unsummoned  approach  the  goddess.  Anyone  who  without  being 
elected  views  the  goddess  must  die.  During  this  interval  from  the  mention  of  the  name 
until  the  consecration,  the  initiate  is  called  the  katochos  of  the  goddess.  After  the  tvyo- 
fold  summons,  the  consecration  occurs,  accompanied  by  elaborate  ceremonies.  It  begins 
with  a  baptism  followed  by  an  esoteric  description  of  the  experiences  awaiting  the 
neophyte.  After  ten  days  of  severe  asceticism,  the  moment  of  consecration  approaches. 
The  rest  of  the  mystics  give  parting  dedicatory  gifts  to  the  initiate.  For  in  the  mystery, 
the  old  man  dies  and  a  new  man  is  born.  Then  the  act  of  consecration  takes  place.  The 
initiate  must  pass  through  all  the  terrors  of  the  underworld.  And  now  at  midnight,  he 
beholds  a  great  light.  He  sees  the  gods  face  to  face.  This  beholding  of  deity  signifies 
exaltation  to  the  divine  plane.  The  holy  beholding  signifies  deification.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  ritual,  the  neophyte  is  clothed  in  holy  raiment  and  finally  in  a  heavenly  dress, 
with  a  wreath  on  his  head  and  a  flaming  torch  in  his  hand.  This  takes  place  on  a  post- 
ament  before  the  assembled  church,  after  which  the  consecrated  is  greeted  and  wor- 
shipped as  a  god.  The  divine  raiment  and  the  wreath  of  the  sungod  have  transformed  the 
candidate  into  a  god.  The  purpose  of  all  this  ritualism  is  to  secure  salvation  for  the 
initiate.  He  shares  the  life  of  the  god  to  attain  the  eternal  life,— following  analysis  of 
Bousset;  cf  also  Apuleius-,  Metamorphoses  XI,  Plutarch  de  Iside  et  Osir.  c  66  AT, 
Pausanias  X  32,  13,  Herodotus  II  170fF,  Wendland,  Kultur,Tafel  8,  Clement,  Stromat. 
VI  4:35-37,  Athejiagoras,  Suppl.  pro  Christ,  c  22,  Tertullian  de  monog.  17;  valuable 
bibliography  in  Case,  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  315,  note  1. 


34  THE     COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

salvation  is  union  with  the  deity.  This  union  may  be  conceived  of  in 
very  crass,  crude,  physical,  sensual,  passionate  fashion  or  in  a  more 
ethical  spiritual  manner  as  likeness  to  the  god  or  as  the  indwelling  of 
the  god.  Salvation  has  to  do  with  the  maintenance  of  the  earthly  life, 
success,  protection  from  disease,  deliverance  from  danger  and  cul- 
minates in  the  conferment  of  a  new  higher  life,  in  the  entering  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  in  the  attainment  of  the  blessed  life,  in  escape  from 
judgment.  To  put  it  briefly,  in  the  mysteries  the  deity  aids  man  in 
procuring  salvation.  And  the  helping  god  was  called  soter.  Of  this 
there  should  be  no  longer  any  doubt.  An  inscription  of  the  time  of 
Ptolemy  IV.  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Alexandria  reads: 

*T7rep  ^aaiXecos  UToXefxalou 
Kal  ^aatXtaa'qs  'ApacvoTjs 
BeCdv  (t)iKoTraTbpoiv  2apd7rt6i 
/cat  T(7t5t  XcjTTJ pa LV  ' Apx^TroXts 
Koa/JLOV  Aeovvarevs  ^^^ 

An  inscription  found  at  Abydos  and  belonging  to  the  time  of  Ptolemy 
IV.  contains 

SapcLTTtSt  'Oo-etpt5t  MeyiaTcci  ScorT/pt.''® 

An  inscription  of  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Epiphanes  found  at  Akoris 
contains 

"I(tl8l  McoxtaSt  Scoretpa.^^' 

The  following  three  statements  are  from  inscriptions  found  at 
Philae  and  of  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Auletes, 

TTiv  yLeyi(TT7]v  Oeav  Kvpiav  Scoretpa^  To-tJ^;^'* 
T'qv  Oeav  Score tpai'^Icrt^;'"^ 
TavvcrdoTeipav  ^laiv.  ''^" 

These  inscriptions  of  the  pre-Christian  era  prove  that  the  gods  of  the 
mystery  religions  were  soteres.  There  is  a  number  of  inscriptions  of 
unknown  date  which  support  this  conclusion.    On  an  altar  at  Lindos: 

aapaiTLos  o-corr/pos.'^' 


^^  Brescia  Bulletin    de   la  Societe  archeologique  d'Alexandria  #10.     Nouvelle  S^rie 
Tome  II,  2me  fascicule.  Alexandria  1908,  p.  170;  Doelger,  Ichthys,  Rom.  1910,  p.  420. 
126  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies  22  (1902)  p.  377. 
J"  C.  I.  G.  3,  4703  c. 
128  C.  I.  G.  3  add  4930  b  p.  1223. 
i2«C.  I.  G.  3  add  4930  d  p.  1229. 
130  C.  I.  G.  3  add  490  p.  1221. 
131 1.  G.  12,  1  No.  932. 


AS   TITLE    AND   NAME    OF   JESUS  35 

At  Alexandria,  Delos,  Talmis,  in  Nubia  similar  inscriptions  occur.'^z 

Thus  far  our  study  has  shown  that  soter  was  employed  of  numerous 
Greek  gods,  that  gnosticism  and  the  mystery  religions  emphasized  the 
god-soter  idea.  In  the  further  development  of  the  soter  usage,  the 
Dioscuri,'"  and  Heracles'^^  and  the  good  daemons  ''^  are  called  soter. 
Oedipus  is  soter  for  Attica, '^e  and  Eurystheus  for  Athens.'" 

The  earliest  known  instance  in  which  the  title  soter  is  applied  to 
historical  persons  is  that  of  the  Spartan  Brasidas.  The  occasion  was 
the  costly  victory  over  the  Athenians  at  Amphipolis,  when  Brasidas 
was  fatally  wounded  and  lived  only  long  enough  to  hear  that  his  side 
had  been  victorious.  Thereupon  he  was  buried  "at  public  expense 
within  the  city  in  front  of  the  present  marketplace;  and  from  that 
day  forth  the  men  of  Amphipolis,  having  fenced  his  tomb,  sacrifice  to 
him  as  a  hero  .  .  .  and  honor  him  with  games  and  sacrifices  every  year. 
They  even  adopted  him  founder  of  the  city  and  called  him  jo/<?r."'" 
Agesilaus  was  called  soter  by  his  soldiers.""  Dio  was  likewise  called 
theos  and  soter  by  the  people  of  Syracuse.'^"  Demosthenes  accuses  the 
Thessalonians  and  Thebans  as  regarding  Philip  as  friend,  euergetes 
and  soter .^^^ 

The  career  of  Alexander  the  Great  added  another  element  to  the 
Greek  soter  conception.  Alexander  had  swept  down  from  the  North 
and  with  titanic  strength  and  with  bewildering  speed  had  moved 
through  the  Orient,  subduing  his  opponents,  settling  the  quarrels  of 
countless  princelets,  establishing  order,  wedding  Greek  culture  to 
Oriental  life.  This  succession  of  events  was  so  out  of  the  ordinary 
that  it  was  looked  upon  as  beyond  the  achievement  of  mortal  man. 
Here  was  the  realization  of  the  Oriental  conception  of  the  king  as  the 


^^  For  Alexandria,  Strack,  Die  Dynastie  der  Ptolemaeer  p.  239  nr.  66,  Sarapidos  Cha 
Isdos  Theon  Soteron;  for  Delos,  Dittenberger  Sylloge  2^761,  764,  p.  618,  619,  the  former 
of  Isis  and  Serapis,  the  latter  of  Isis,  Astarte,  Aphrodite,  etc;  for  Talmis,  C.  I.  G.,  3 
#5041  Isin  Sarapin  tous  megistous  ton  theon  soleras  agathous.  In  the  Orphic  hymns,  the 
deities  are  often  called  soteres  cf  2:14,  9:12,  14:8,  12,  27:12,  36:13,  38:3,  24,  67:8,  74:7, 
9,  75:5,  85:10,  see  Wobbermin,  Religionsgeschicht.  Studien  1896  p.  58  ff,  Dieterich, 
Deut.  Literatuzeitung  1892,  s  1644. 

'=«  Homeric  Hymn  33,  6,  Theoc.  22:6,  Luc.  Alex.  4,  Pausanias  2,  1:9,  Eur.  Hel.  1664, 
Clement  of  Alexandria  Protrep.  22,  C.  I.  G.  3,  4042  (Ancyra),  C.  I.  G.  1,  1261  (Sparta). 

'»^  I.  G.  14,  1001  (Rome);  Thasos,  Head,  Hist.  num.  229,  etc. 

'35  Roscher,  1913,  soter,  column  1253. 

'3«0.  C.  460,  463  cfOed.  R.  480. 

'"  Eur.  Heracl.  1032. 

'38Thucydides5,  11,2. 

'3^  Xenophon,  Ages,  11,  13. 

'<o  Plut.  Dio  46. 

'*'  Demosth.  de  corona  43,  cf  further  Wendland,  Kultur,  p.  124. 


36  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

incarnation  of  the  deity.    The  hymn  of  Ikhnaton  is  the  classic  expres- 
sion of  this  Oriental  conception: 

"Thou  art  in  my  heart 
There  is  no  other  that  knoweth  thee, 
Save  thy  son  Ikhnaton    .... 
Since  thou  (Aton)  didst  establish  the  earth 
Thou  hast  raised  them  up  for  thy  son, 
Who  came  forth  from  thy  limbs, 
The  king,  living  in  truth    .... 
The  son  of  Re,  living  in  truth,  lord  of  diadems 
Ikhnaton  whose  life  is  long.""»2 

Alexander  was  not  slow  to  grasp  the  significance  of  this  religious 
sentiment  and  therefore  personally  encouraged  this  dogma  of  his 
divine  kingdom.  Alexander  was  granted  divine  honors  by  Asiatic 
and  European  Greeks,  was  known  as  the  son  of  Ammon,  and  his  last 
desire  was  to  be  buried  in  the  oasis  of  Zeus  Ammon.  Thus  was  the 
Oriental  view  of  a  god-king  inaugurating  a  new  aeon  fused  with  the 
Greek  god-soter  idea.^^^ 

The  successors  of  Alexander  divided  his  empire  and  appropriated 
the  Oriental  god-king  conception,  i^''  In  307  the  Athenians  voted  divine 
honors  to  Antigonus  and  Demetrius  Poliorketes,  calling  them  god- 
saviors  and  electing  a  priest  for  the  new  cult."'^ 

The  Ptolemies  perfected  the  union  of  the  Greek  and  Oriental  ideas 
of  soterJ^^  The  cult  of  the  Oeol  d5eX0ot  introduced  by  Philadelphus 
certainly  proves  the  existence  of  the  cult  of  the  reigning  sovereign. 
And  it  would  even  seem  that  Ptolemy  I.  and  Berenice  were  wor- 
shipped as  soter  while' reigning.  The  Rosetta  stone  provides  indubit- 
able evidence  for  the  completed  union  of  the  god-savior  and  god-king 
ideas.  The  inscription  directs  that  statues  of  Ptolemy  as  jo/^rof  Egypt* 
be  made  and  that  one  be  set  up  in  every  temple  of  Egypt  for  the 
priests  and  the  people  to  worship.    Figures  of  Ptolemy  in  gold  are  to 

'*2  Breasted,  A  History  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  N.  Y.,  1911,  p.  276  f. 

^*^  Breasted,  Development  of  Religion  and  Thought  in  Ancient^Egypt  p.  16;  Maspero, 
Comment  Alexandre  devint  dieu  en  Egypte,  Ecole  des  Hautes  Etudes  annuaire  1897; 
Lucian,  Dialogues  of  the  Dead  XIV;  Lietzmann,  Der  Weltheiland;  Reitzenstein, 
Poimandres  308  IF,  Case  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  pp.  195-238. 

i^^The  Harvard  Collection  of  Coins  supplies  the  following  data:  Period  VA  ( B.  C. 
280-190)  #26  Bactria:  Diodotou  soteros;  §17  Euthudemou  theou.  Period  VH  A  (B.  C. 
100-1)  #14  basilissa  Kleopatra  thea  neotera;  #20  Bactria:  basileos  megalou  soterou  kai 
phihpatoros  Jpollodotou;  #21,  Hermaeus:  basileos  soteros  Hermaiou. 

i«  Plutarch,  Demet.  10. 

i«  Dittenberger,  Sylloge  #202,  Diodor.  XX,  10,  Pausanias  I  8:6,  Wendland,  Kul- 
turgesch  Beilage  1.    Deissmann  Light  from  the  Ancient  East  349. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  37 

be  made  and  placed  in  gold  shrines  which  are  to  be  set  side  by  side 
with  the  shrines  of  the  gods  and  carried  about  in  procession  with 
them.  The  priests  are  to  be  known  as  the  "priests  of  the  beneficent 
god  Ptolemy  Epiphanes  who  appeareth  on  earth."  Soldiers  may 
borrow  the  shrines  with  the  figure  of  Ptolemy  inside  of  them  and  a 
copy  of  the  decree  is  to  be  set  up  in  certain  temples  "side  by  side  with 
the  statue  of  Ptolemy  the  ever  living  god."  Ptolemy  is  described  as 
the  "living  image  of  Zeus,  God  of  God,  descended  from  God,  son  of 
Isis." 

Henceforth  the  soter  title  occurs  constantly.'*^  It  is  attested  for 
Antiochus,'"  Mithridates,'*'  Antiochus  IV,!^"  Antiochus  I.  Com- 
magene,i5i  Pompey,'52  Verres,'*'  Marcus  Agrippa,'^*  Julius  Caesar'^" 
and  many  others.  Plutarch  relates  how  Camillus,  Pelopidas,  Sulla, 
Cato  the  Younger  were  called  soter.  If  the  historian  is  guilty  of  read- 
ing back  the  usage  of  his  own  time,  we  at  least  may  observe  how  very 
frequent  the  employment  of  soter  then  was.'^e 

11.  The  significance  of  the  jo/^r-idea. 

We  have  briefly  traced  the  history  of  the  soter-idea.  in  the  Graeco- 
Roman  civilization  and  may  now  summarize  the  acknowledged  results 
of  the  study  of  the  jo/^r-problem. 

The  underlying  idea  in  soter  is  that  of  helper  in  time  of  need.  The 
deliverance  may  involve  protection  on  some  dangerous  journey, 
escape  from  shipwreck,  rescue  in  battle,  removal  of  economic  distress, 
banishment  of  pest  or  plague  or  the  doing  away  with  any  kind  of  ob- 
struction. Further  an  eschatological  emphasis  developed  about  the 
idea  because  of  its  connection  with  the  mystery  religions.  But  the 
principal  point  is  that  the  idea  of  soter  involves  the  god-idea.  When 
the  delivered  person  was  unfamiliar  with  the  name  of  the  god  who 
had  come  to  his  assistance,  he  called  the  unknown  god  soter.  If  the 
deliverance  occurred  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  associated  with  the  func- 
tion of  any  known  god,  soter  would  immediately  become  a  temporary 
title  of  the  god  in  question.  A  series  of  rescues  by  the  same  god  would 
inevitably  cause  the  temporary  title  to  become  a  permanent  title. 

"^  See  especially  Wendland,  Zeitschrift  fuer  die  N.  T.  Wissenschaft  1904,  335  ff. 

'***  Kornemann,  Zur  Geschichte  des  antiken  Herrscherkultes  I  68-78  fF. 

'^'  Cicero  pro  Flacco  60. 

'•''"  Dittenberger,  Orient  Inscrip.  253. 

'^'  Dittenberger,  Or.  Gr.  Inscrip.  Selectae  I,  383. 

'^^2  Dittenberger,  Sylloge  I  337-40. 

163  Verres,  Act  II  2,  154. 

''^  Collitz,  Dialekinscrip.  I  219. 

'^  Dittenberger,  Or.  Ins.  346  f,  Sylloge  I,  347. 

1"  Camillus  11,  Pelopidas  12,  Sulla  34,  Cato  Minor  71. 


38  THE    COMBINATION  THEOS    SOTER 

Originally  soter  was  a  title  limited  to  the  gods.  The  god's  employ- 
ment of  some  person  as  agent  and  the  heroising  of  the  conspicuous 
and  powerful  dead  promoted  the  attachment  of  soter  to  heroes,  and 
then  to  men  who  had  in  some  extraordinary  manner  demonstrated 
themselves  deliverers. 

Thereupon,  during  the  period  of  the  hellenization  of  the  East,  the 
Oriental  god-king  idea  plus  an  eschatological  emphasis  fused  with  the 
Greek  jo^^r-conception. 

Hence,  in  the  religious  vocabulary  of  the  ordinary  man  in  the  first 
century,  soter  was  a  term  of  very  complex  content.  But  the  one  ele- 
ment practically  universally  present  in  soter  was  theos.  Alexander, 
the  Ptolemies,  the  Seleucids,  Pompey,  Verres,  Agrippa,  Julius  Caesar, 
Augustus  are  theos  as  well  as  soter.  When  we  are  near  soter^  we  are 
also  near  theos.  And  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  great  variety 
of  significance  attaches  to /A^oj-.^"  An  exception  to  this  rule  of  theos- 
soter  would  be  the  employment  of  soter  as  descriptive  term  without 
title  value.  Honors  equal  to  those  of  the  gods  are  bestowed  on  the 
Ptolemies.  The  Rosetta  stone  inscription  is  filled  with  the  idea  of 
deity.  Antiochus  IV.  is  epiphanes,  ktistes,  as  well  as  soter.  The  world 
is  described  as  full  of  temples  to  Pompey.  Julius  Caesar  is  the  god 
epiphanes,  the  offspring  of  Ares  and  Aphrodite  as  well  as  the  common 
savior  of  humanity.^*8  Augustus  is  divine,  son  of  Jupiter,  god.  After 
B.  C.  40,  Augustus  called  himself  divi  filius.  After  the  battle  of 
Actium,  Octavius  was  associated  with  the  gods  in  hymns  of  praise.  In 
B.  C.  7,  the  genius  of  Augustus  was  added  to  the  cult  of  the  Lares 
compitales.  "The  whole  world  regarded  Augustus  as  equal  to  the 
Olympians"  is  the  judgment  of  Philo.  "You  (Augustus),  while  in 
life,  are  honored  as  divine,  and  vows  and  oaths  are  taken  at  your 
shrine. "»59  "Who  is  the  god  this  people  shall  invoke  to  save  a  realm 
that  rushes  to  its  fall.?"i«"  "To a  godlowethis  blest  repose;  to  him  as 
god  I  bow."'«i  The  inscription  of  Priene  puts  it :  "  Providence  has  sent 
this  man  to  us  and  to  coming  generations  as  a  soter,  he  will  make  an 
end  to  all  struggle  and  mould  things  gloriously    .     .     .    the  birthday 


^^^  For  a  most  valuable  summary  on  the  usage  of  theosy  see  Harnack,  History  of 
Dogma  I,  119,  note  2. 

1^8  Inscription  from  Ephesus,  B.  C.  48,  Dittenberger  Sylloge  347;  statue  in  the  temple 
of  Quirinus  in  honor  of  Caesar  inscribed  "to  the  invisible  god,"  cf  Angus,  Environment 
of  Early  Christianity,  1915,  p.  86  f. 

^^^  Horace,  Epistles  H,  1,  IS  (Conington). 

160  Horace,  Odes  I  2,  25  cf  IV  5,  31  f. 

i«i  Virgil,  Eclog.  I,  7. 


AS   TITLE   AND   NAME    OF   JESUS  39 

of  the  god  has  led  the  world  to  the  messages  of  joy.*'»«2  The  gods 
of  the  mystery  cults  are  called  soteres.  The  holy  scriptures  of  the  Jews 
tended  to  restrict  soter  to  Yahweh.  To  put  it  tersely,  to  say  soter 
was  to  say  theos.  When  the  author  of  the  epistle  to  Titus  says, 
**  looking  for  the  blessed  hope  and  epiphany  of  the  glory  of  our  great 
God  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ,"i«3  he  summarizes  the  ordinary  content 
of  the  jo/^r-idea  in  the  culture  of  his  day.  Theos  soter  is  a  rather  fixed, 
inseparable  religious  combination  in  the  civilization  of  the  Roman 
empire.  "No  one  could  be  a  god  any  longer  unless  he  was  also  a  savior'* 
had  its  complement  in  no  one  could  be  a  savior  without  being  a  god.^" 


^^  c(Dta  de  patroon  kai  sotera  tou  koinou  tou  anthropou  genous,  number  894  of  in- 
scriptions from  Halicarnassus  in  British  Museum,  Wendland,  Kulturges.  410. 

»« Titus  2:13. 

*"  The  Harvard  Collection  of  Coins  supplies  the  following  data:  Period  V  A  (B.  C. 
280-190)  #  26  Diodotou  soteros;  #27  Euthudemou  theou;  Period  VII  A  (B.  C.  100-1)  #14 
basilissa  Kleopatra  thea  neotera. 


IV. 

THE    EXPLANATION    OF    THE    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIAN 
FAILURE  TO  APPLY  THE  TITLE  SOTER  TO  JESUS 

Our  study  has  shown  that  primitive  Christianity  needed  a  soter, 
that  the  early  church  to  the  time  of  Paul  avoided  calling  Jesus  soter, 
that  the  idea  of  soter  in  the  religious  vocabulary  of  the  Graeco-Roman 
world  was  bound  up  with  the  idea  of  theos.  We  should  now  seek  the 
explanation  of  this  manifest  failure  to  apply  the  title  soter  to  Jesus. 

12.  Christianity  and  the  imperial  employment  of  the  title  soter. 

It  might  be  plausibly  argued  that  the  appropriation  of  the  title 
joter  by  the  Roman  emperors  sufficiently  accounts  for  its  avoidance  by 
the  primitive  Christian  community.  Whatever  may  be  affirmed  of 
various  groups  of  Christians,  this  reason  would  not  account  for  the 
universal  omission  of  the  title  soter.  The  favorite  Pauline  title  kyrios 
was  also  employed  of  the  Roman  emperors.  Moreover,  the  title  soter 
was  by  no  means  restricted  to  the  Roman  emperors.  It  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Jews,  in  gnosticism,  in  the  mystery  religions,  in  case  of 
numerous  Greek  gods  and  especially  in  the  cult  of  the  god  of  healing. 
But  the  fallacy  lies  deeper.  The  argument  for  the  avoidance  of  soter 
because  of  opposition  to  the  Roman  empire  presupposes  that 
Christianity  entered  the  Graeco-Roman  civilization  as  a  world 
religion,  challenging  publicly  all  existing  cults.  Whereas,  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  distinctiveness  of  Christianity  was  very  gradual.  For 
decades  the  Roman  empire  identified  Christianity  with  Judaism.  It 
required  the  fire  at  Rome  and  the  missionary  propaganda  and 
death  of  Paul  as  well  as  the  Jewish  insurrection  of  the  seventh 
decade  of  the  first  Christian  century  to  make  the  empire  conscious  of 
the  separateness  of  Christianity.  Within  Christianity  soter  could 
have  been  used  of  Jesus  for  many  years  without  in  any  way  coming 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  empire  and  without  causing  conscientious 
objections  on  the  part  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  for  the  holy  scriptures 
of  the  Jews  had  employed  the  term  soter. 

Again,  it  is  after  the  menace  of  Christianity  has  been  recognized 
by  the  empire  that  the  title  soter  appears  in  Christian  compositions. 
It  is  after  A.  D.  70,  that  soter  becomes  frequent.  The  situation  really 
is  that  at  the  beginning  when  the  Christian  movement  was  little  or- 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  41 

ganized  and  insignificant,  when  no  problem  of  attitude  toward  the 
overshadowing  empire  presented  itself,  the  title  soter  is  avoided  by 
Christians,  whereas  at  a  time  when  it  might  have  proved  dangerous 
to  employ  the  title  or  when  there  might  have  been  scruples  against  its 
employment.  Christians  are  using  it. 

There  is  opposition  to  the  imperial  religion  with  the  cult  of  the  liv- 
ing emperor  in  the  revolutionary  apocalypse  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  decisive  world-battle  is  the  conflict  between  Christians  and  the 
cult  of  the  emperor.  The  kyrios  and  his  church  in  the  end  win  the 
victory. 1^5  Xhe  Johannine  apocalypse  avoids  the  title  soter  and  this 
attitude  of  opposition  to  the  empire  is  probably  a  contributing  factor. 
Yet  in  other  Christian  circles  the  title  soter  puts  in  an  appearance  at 
just  the  time  when  the  Johannine  apocalypse  reaches  a  larger  audi- 
ence. Finally,  the  path  of  the  New  Testament  apocalypse  to  a  secure 
place  in  the  canon  was  by  no  means  smooth. 

13.  The  expansion  of  Christianity  and  the  title  soter. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  use  of  the  Christian  title  soter  runs 
parallel  to  the  separation  of  Christianity  from  its  original  soil  and  its 
syncretism  with  hellenic  culture.  Jewish  messianism  and  the  title 
"Christ,^'  it  is  said,  were  strange  to  the  Gentiles  and  hence  soter  was 
employed  to  enable  the  Gentiles  to  appreciate  Christianity.^^^  But 
soter  was  used  in  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
Christianity  was  on  Gentile  territory  within  a  few  years  after  the 
death  of  Jesus.  Further  "Christ"  occurs  some  350- times  in  PauL'^^  All 
of  his  surviving  letters  are  addressed  to  Gentile  Christian  churches. 
Yet  soter  with  title  value  seems  not  to  occur  in  the  Pauline  correspond- 
ence. Moreover,  soter  is  absent  from  the  Epistle  of  Clement,  the 
Epistle  of  Barnabas,  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  and  the  apologies  of 
Aristides,  Tatian,  and  Athenagoras.  Barnabas  avowedly  allegorizes 
the  holy  scriptures  of  the  Jews  and  completely  appropriates  them  for 
Christianity.  He  should  have  given  particular  attention  to  the  usage 
of  soter  in  the  Greek  Old  Testament.  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  has 
been  shown  to  be  acquainted  with  and  dependent  upon  Poimandres.'®^ 
And  no  one  would  affirm  that  the  Greek  apologists  with  their  numer- 
ous allusions  to  Greek  religion  are  unfamiliar  with  the  terminology  of 
the  Greek  religion. 

i«5  Revelation  14:1,5:12,7:12. 

'^' Wendland,  Kulturgeschichte  221;  Wobbermin,  Mysterienreligionen  105  ff. 

'*'^  On  Paul's  employment  of  Christ,  see  Case,  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  112  ff. 

'®^  Reitzenstein,  Poimandres  11  ff,  32  ff. 


42  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

14.  The  Christology  of  the  primitive  Christian  church  and  the 
title  soter. 

The  only  adequate  explanation  of  the  primitive  Christian  rejection 
o(  soter  as  title  for  Jesus  is  supplied  by  the  Christology  of  the  primitive 
church. 

(1)  The  Christology  of  the  church  prior  to  Paul  and  the  title  soter. 

One  of  the  earliest  titles  applied  to  Jesus  was  son  of  God.  Did  this 
title  prior  to  Paul  possess  ethical-religious,  theocratic  or  metaphysical 
significance.?  The  answer  to  our  question  is  furnished  by  the  narrative 
of  the  baptism  and  the  temptation  of  Jesus. ^^^  The  description  of  the 
experience  of  Jesus  at  his  baptism  is  very  varied.  It  has  been  pointed 
out  that  the  baptism  of  Jesus  constituted  a  problem  for  Matthew  and 
Luke  and  the  primitive  church  in  general. ^^"  The  fourth  evangelist  so 
modified  it  as  to  transform  it.  The  "Western"  form  of  Luke,  attested 
also  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,  adds  "this  day  have  I  begotten  thee." 
This  was  most  inconvenient  for  Christians  of  the  second  century. 
Indeed,  this  form  of  text  disappears  after  400  A.  D.  The  "this  day" 
proved  the  significance  of  sonship  to  be  ethical-religious:  God  loved 
Jesus  in  a  special  way  and  gave  him  a  special  work  to  do  and  therefore 
called  him  son.'^^  In  the  temptation  narrative  Jesus  meets  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  Messiah.  The  interpretation  of  the  narrative  of  the 
temptation  yields  this  precipitate:  the  early  church  regarded  Jesus  as 
Messiah  in  spite  of  his  natural  life  because  he  submitted  to  the  method 
of  God  and  refused  to  enter  into  any  coalition  with  the  power  of  evil. 
The  term  "son  of  God"  for  the  very  primitive  church  had  historical, 
ethical-religious  connotation  and  not  metaphysical  value. 

Another  title  applied  to  Jesus  by  the  primitive  church  was  "Son  of 
Man."  But  this  title  does  not  involve  the  equation  Jesus  is  God.  We 
shall  pause  only  to  recapitulate  recent  historical  investigation  of  the 
complicated  "Son  of  Man"  question. '^^  Xhe  earlier  study  of  the  "Son 
of  Man"  problem  was  principally  an  exegetical  evaluation  of  the 
passages  of  the  New  Testament  concerned.  The  usual  conclusion  was 
that  Jesus  by  its  employment  desired  to  indicate  that  he  was  human- 
ity's ideal.  About  1880,  the  historical  method  of  study  began  to  call 
attention  to  the  phenomena  of  Daniel  and  related  Jewish  literature. 

169  Mark  l:llff;  Luke  3:21ff;  Matt.  3:16  ff;  John  1:31  ff;  gospel  according  to  the 
Hebrews,  Ebionite  Gospel. 

1'°  Harnack,  Sprueche  und  Reden,  Leipzig,  1907,  p.  216. 

i"Cf  Acts  13:33,  Hebr.  1:5. 

1"  Based  on  Theolog,  Rundschau  1900,  p.  201  ff,  Bousset,  Kyrios  Christos  6-27, 
Religion  des  Judentums  (revised  edition)  p.  297  ff  (305  note  1,  307  note  2). 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  43 

For  various  reasons  It  seemed  unwarranted  to  let  Jesus  employ  the 
title  heavenly  Son  of  Man  of  himself.  Consequently,  the  interpreta- 
tion varied  between  temporary  messianic  existence,  anticipatory  em- 
ployment, and  humanity's  ideal.  As  soon  as  it  was  conceded  that 
Jesus  spoke  Aramaic,  a  new  period  in  the  interpretation  of  the  title 
"Son  of  Man"  began,  for  its  Aramaic  equivalent  must  be  discovered. 
In  1894  bar  'nasa  was  assumed  to  be  the  underlying  Aramaic  equiva- 
lent of  the  odd  expression  '*the  Son  of  Man."  But  as  this  Aramaic  ex- 
pression was  assumed  to  signify  "the  man,"  messianic  significance  was 
denied  the  title.  Somewhat  later  it  was  argued  that  the  title  "Son  of 
Man"  never  existed  in  the  Aramaic  and  therefore  Jesus  did  not  apply 
such  a  title  to  himself.  But  the  data  of  Enoch  soon  compelled  the 
definite  acknowledgment  that  "Son  of  Man"  does  occur  in  Enoch. 
The  only  point  remaining  subject  to  debate  as  far  as  Enoch  was  con- 
cerned was  whether  "Son  of  Man"  in  Enoch  had  technical  significance. 
In  1898  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  Jerusalem-Palestinian  Aramaic  of 
the  period  of  Jesus  had  *nas  for  man,  that  the  singular  bar  'nas  was  of 
rare  occurrence  and  only  found  in  imitation  of  the  Hebrew  Old  Testa- 
ment. It  was  only  later  that  bar  'nas  became  the  customary  ex- 
pression for  man.  To  put  it  another  way,  in  the  time  of  Jesus  bar  'nas 
was  felt  to  be  an  archaic,  poetical  expression.  Further,  the  definite, 
determined  bar  'nasa*  is  not  to  be  discovered  in  the  Aramaic.  Thus 
it  might  be  granted  that  bar  'nasa'  could  develop  technical  meaning, 
title  significance.  And  because  Jewish  apocalypticism  was  fond  of 
mysterious  terms,  it  was  all  the  more  probable  that  "the  man"  should 
become  a  messianic  title.  The  outcome  of  the  long  controversy  was 
to  locate  "Son  of  Man"  within  the  terminology  of  Jewish  apocalypti- 
cism. It  was  recognized  that  the  idea  of  pre-existence  attaches  to 
the  title  "Son  of  Man."  "Son  of  Man"  is  the  transcendent,  pre- 
existent  Messiah,  "the  primitive  man,"  "the  second  man,"  who  ap- 
pears in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  who  participates  in  the  world  assize. 
But  never  does  "Son  of  Man"  signify  God.  Therefore  the  primitive 
church  by  employing  the  title  "Son  of  Man"  is  not  calling  Jesus 
theos. 

The  primitive  church  also  called  Jesus  kyrios.  The  origin  of  this 
title  is  not  clear.  The  usual  interpretation  traces  it  to  the  Aramaic 
Christian  community,  especially  because  Paul  taught  his  Gentile 
converts  the  phrase  maran  atha.'-^  A  very  recent  view  is  that  the  title 

1"  Case,  Journal  of  Biblical  Literature,  1907,  p.  153  ff. 


44  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

kyrios  originated  in  the  church  at  Antioch.J^"  Whatever  the  origin  of 
the  title  kyrios,  did  it  signify  to  the  primitive  Christian  that  Jesus 
was  theos} 

To  anticipate  a  possible  objection  that  the  employment  of  the  title 
ho  kyrios  of  Jesus  demonstrates  that  for  the  early  Christians,  Christ 
was  theos,  we  must  briefly  consider  the  usage  of  kyrios.  It  is  well 
known  that  a  number  of  Greek  gods  and  goddesses  were  called 
kyrios  or  kyria.  The  list  includes  Artemis,  Atargatis,  Athena,  Hecate, 
Isis,  Apollo,  Asclepius,  Dionysus,  Hades,  Hermes,  Osiris,  Sabazius 
and  Zeus. 17* 

Moreover,  although  the  Rosetta  stone  does  not  contain  an  absolute 
ho  kyrios,  Ptolemy  XHI.  is  called  *'the  lord,  king,  and  god"  and 
Ptolemy  XIV.  and  Cleopatra  "the  lords,  the  most  great  gods." 
Further,  the  native  heath  of  the  title  kyrios  is  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  and 
Syria.  It  apparently  played  no  important  role  in  the  national  Greek 
religion.  Caligula,  Claudius,  and  Nero  were  called  kyrios  and  Domi- 
tian  was  called  dominus  et  deus  nosterJ''^ 

The  earlier  strata  of  New  Testament  material  seem  to  avoid  kyrios 
as  title  of  Christ.  Thus,  Q  has  no  instance  and  Mark  but  one  instance 
in  the  author's  narrative  of  the  use  o^  kyrios  as  title  of  Christ. i"  Mat- 
thew likewise  has  kyrios  but  once  or  twice. ^^^  There  is  no  altogether 
certain  instance  of  kyrios  as  title  of  Christ  in  the  first  nineteen  chap- 
ters of  Johannine  gospel.  Luke,  however,  has  the  title  more  than  a 
dozen  times.  And  in  the  Pauline  correspondence  and  the  rest  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  title  kyrios  dominates. 

Another  dissimilarity  between  the  New  Testament  usage  of  soter 
and  kyrios  is  the  great  variety  of  significance  attaching  to  kyrios  and 
also  the  unusually  large  number  of  occurrences  of  kyrios.  Whereas 
soter  occurs  but  twenty-four  times  in  the  entire  New  Testament, 
kyrios  occurs  hundreds  of  times.  Whereas  soter  is  restricted  to  God 
and  Christ,  kyrios  is  employed  of  any  insignificant  or  significant  lord- 
ship. Whereas  soter  theos  is  an  inseparable  combination,  kyrios  may 
not  be  thus  limited. 

The  Greek  writers  employ  kyrios  not  only  of  the  gods  but  of  the 
master  of  the  house,  the  head  of  the  family,  the  guardian  of  children, 

"*  Bousset,  Kyrios  Christos  p.  108  fF. 

176  Pqj.  complete  list  and  attestation,  see  Drexler  in  Roscher  II,  1  col.  1755  fF;  Harnack 
History  of  Dogma  I  119  note  1. 
^^'  Bousset,  Kyrios  Christos  113  fF,  Deissmann  Light  from  the  Ancient  East  p.  353  fF. 
I"  Mark  11:3. 
""Matt.  21:3,  28:6. 


AS   TITLE    AND   NAME    OF   JESUS  45 

any  trustee.  The  Greek  Old  Testament  employs  kyrios  of  Abraham, 
Esau,  Joseph,  the  king  of  Egypt,  the  king  of  Israel,  Nebuchadrezzar, 
Eglon  of  the  Moabites,  overlords  in  general,  not  to  mention  the  uni- 
versal use  of  the  vocative. ^^^  The  New  Testament  continues  the  same 
broad  usage  of  kyrios.  **And  when  even  was  come,  the  lord  of  the 
vineyard  saith  unto  his  steward.  Call  the  laborers  and  pay  them  their 
hire."i*"  '*  Watch  therefore:  for  ye  know  not  when  the  lord  of  the  house 
Cometh. "i8'  "And  as  they  were  loosing  the  colt,  the  lords  thereof  said 
unto  them.  Why  loose  ye  the  colt .?"'«-  **The  lord  of  that  servant  shall 
come  in  a  day  when  he  expecteth  not."i83  "What  shall  I  do  seeing  that 
my  lord  taketh  away  the  stewardship  from  me.''"'**  "A  certain  maid 
having  a  spirit,  a  Python,  met  us,  who  brought  her  lords  much  gain  by 
her  soothsaying. "i85  '*But  I  say  that  so  long  as  the  heir  is  a  child,  he 
sufFereth  nothing  from  a  bond-servant  though  he  is  lord  of  all. "^^e  "As 
Sarah  obeyed  Abraham,  calling  him  lord."'"  **As  there  are  gods  many 
and  lords  many."'**  These  instances  which  could  be  greatly  extended 
and  which  make  no  use  of  the  vocative  are  sufficient  to  emphasize  the 
wide  range  of  meaning  attaching  to  kyrios  as  well  as  its  constant  em- 
ployment apart  from  theos. 

A  quotation  from  the  Old  Testament  found  at  Mark  1:3,  Matthew 
3:3,  Luke  3:4  finely  illustrates  how  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
discriminate  between  kyrios  and  theos. ^^^  In  Isaiah  40:3,  the  prophet 
says: 

"The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness. 

Make  ready  the  way  kyriou 

Make  straight  the  paths  tou  theou  hemon. 
In  the  New  Testament  this  has  become: 

"The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness, 

Make  ye  ready  the  way  kyriou 

Make  his  paths  straight!" 

Christ  was  kyrios  and  the  kyriou  of  the  Old  Testament  is  retained. 

"»Gen.  18:12,  32:4,  5,  44:8,  45:8,  40:1;  Daniel  4:21;  Judges  3:2S;Isa.  26:13,  etc. 
180  Matt.  20:28. 
•     1*1  Mark  13:35. 
'«2  Luke  19:33. 
183  Luke  12:46. 
18*  Luke  16:3. 
186  Acts  16:16. 
i8«Gal.  4:1. 
1871  Pet.  3:6. 

188  1  Cor.  8:5. 

189  On  the  following  quotation  and  statistics,  see  Case  in  Journal  of  Bibl.  Lit.  1907, 
p.  151  ff;  Sanders  in  Bibl.  Sacra,  April,  1914,  p.  275  ff. 


46  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

But  kyrios  is  not  the  equivalent  of  theos  and  therefore  ton  theou  of  the 
Greek  Old  Testament  is  transformed  into  '*  his"  in  the  New  Testament. 
New  Testament  statistics  regarding  the  usage  of  theos  and  kyrios  con- 
firm this  inference.  Theos  is  used  of  God  some  thirteen  hundred  times 
in  the  New  Testament.  Kyrios  is  used  of  Christ  some  four  hundred 
times.  Outside  of  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  writers 
tend  to  restrict  kyrios  to  Christ.  Christ  is  called  theos  at  the  very  most 
only  a  few  times  in  the  later  strata  of  the  New  Testament.  If  kyrios 
signified  theos,  how  comes  it  that  with  such  frequency  of  employment 
o{  theos  in  the  New  Testament,  theos  should  only  so  late  and  so  rarely 
have  been  applied  to  Christ.^  Moreover,  inasmuch  as  the  primitive 
Christians  worshipped  Christ^^"  and  applied  Old  Testament  scripture 
originally  employed  of  Yahweh  to  him,  it  is  all  the  more  remarkable 
that  they  do  not  call  Christ  theos  and  that  kyrios  did  not  soon  become 
the  equivalent  of  God. 

The  three  representative  answers  regarding  the  original  significance 
of  kyrios  are:  ''Kyrios  does  not  imply  that  Christ  is  elevated  to  the 
place  of  Yahweh  but  is  descriptive  of  his  heavenly  authority  over  the 
community  in  the  spiritual  sphere;"!^!  "by  kyrios  the  early  Christians 
meant  the  complete  lordship  of  Jesus.  He  directed  and  controlled 
the  entire  life  of  the  Christian.  It  meant  that  God  had  given  to  Christ 
the  sovereignty  of  the  world.  It  denoted  that  Christ  shared  the 
sovereignty  with  God;"*''^  ''kyrios  denoted  that  Jesus  was  Lord  of  the 
life  of  the  Christian  community  especially  as  this  life  manifested  itself 
in  worship;  denoted  Jesus  Christ  as  worshipped  by  the  Christian 
community. "i93  There  is  agreement  here  that  kyrios  is  not  to  be 
equated  with  theos. 

The  primitive  church  preserved  a  number  of  sayings  of  Jesus  which 
beyond  question  subordinate  Christ  to  God.  In  the  controversy  with 
the  Pharisees  regarding  the  secret  of  his  power  over  daemons  and  in 
refutation  of  the  Pharisaic  hypothesis  that  Jesus  cast  out  daemons  by 
Beelzebul,  the  prince  of  daemons,  Jesus  states,  "Whosoever  says  a 
word  against  the  Son  of  Man  will  be  forgiven,  but  whosoever  speaks 
against  the  Holy  Spirit  will  never  be  forgiven  neither  in  this  world  nor 
in  the  world  to  come.''^'*  Jesus  here  clearly  discriminates  between  him- 
self and  the  higher  power  under  whose  sway  he  feels  himself  to  be. 

i«°IICor.  1:20,  12:8;  Col.  3:16  f. 

i«i  Case,  ibid,  p.  160. 

^®-  Lietzmann  on  Romans  10:9. 

*'3  Bousset,  Kvrios  Christos,  p.  105. 

'8^  Matt.  12:32. 


AS  TITLE  AND  NAME  OF  JESUS  47 

The  fourth  evangelist  preserves  the  tradition  that  "even  his  brothers 
did  not  believe  in  him."'^*  Mark  records  that  the  family  of  Jesus  **set 
out  to  get  hold  ofhim,forwhat  they  said  was,  'Heisoutof  his  mind.'"i»« 
In  the  eschatological  discourse,  Jesus  says,  **Now  no  one  knows  any- 
thing about  that  day  or  hour,  not  even  the  angels  in  heaven,  not  even 
the  Son,  but  only  the  Father."^"  The  knowledge  of  the  son  is  limited. 
He  shares  the  counsels  of  God  as  no  other,  but  the  time  of  the  end  he 
does  not  know.  There  is  another  passage  which  should  be  taken  at 
its  face  value.  "As  he  went  out  on  the  road  a  man  ran  up  and  knelt 
down  before  him.  *Good  teacher,'  he  asked,  *what  must  I  do  to  in- 
herit life  eternal.?'  Jesus  said  to  him,  'Why  call  me  good?  No  one  is 
good,  no  one  but  God.'  "^'^ 

Our  examination  of  the  documents  of  the  primitive  church  prior  to 
Paul  has  shown  the  absence  of  the  proposition  Jesus  is  soter  and  also 
the  absence  of  the  proposition  Jesus  is  theos. 

(2)  The  Christology  of  Paul  and  the  title  soter,^^^ 

Paul's  view  of  the  Son  of  God  involves  a  relation  between  two 
persons,  a  relation  not  due  to  appointment  but  originating  in  God. 
This  Son  of  God  was  pre-existent  and  of  the  Davidic  line  when  he  ap- 
peared in  the  flesh.  He  was  established  reigning  Son  of  God  in  con- 
nection with  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 200  The  pre-existent  one 
though  possessing  the  mode  of  being  characteristic  of  God  did  not 
seize  equality  with  God  but  became  incarnate.  Even  prior  to  the 
incarnation,  Christ  was  not  metaphysically  identical  with  God.  He 
was  like  God  yet  other  than  God.2"»  He  was  the  second  man,  the 
heavenly  man. 202  Christ  reveals  to  men  the  otherwise  incomprehensible 
God.  Christ  outranks  every  creature,  because  everything  in  heaven 
and  on  earth,  the  seen  and  the  unseen,  thrones,  sovereignties,  powers, 
mights  were  created  in  him;  everything  came  into  being  through  him 
and  is  limited  by  him.  Christ  heads  everything  and  the  cosmos  is 
grounded  in  him. 203  But  nowhere  does  the  apostle  equate  the  Son  of 
God  with  theos. 

>95  John  7:5. 

'9«  Mark  3:21. 

'"Mark  13:32. 

198  10:17,  18  cf  also  Mark  15:34;  Luke  11:29,  7:23;  Matt.  13:58. 

"9  See  on  this  section,  Weiss,  Christ,  the  Beginnings  of  Dogma,  Boston,  1911; 
Bousset,  Kyrios  Christos;  Weinel,  Bibl.  Theologie  des  N,  T.,  Granbery,  Outlines  of 
N.  T.  Christology,  Chicago,  1909. 

soo  Rom.  1 :1  ff,  8:3;  Gal.  4:4;  Phil.  2:6  ff;  Col.  1 :15  ff. 

2«i  Phil.  2:5  ff. 

2«2 1  Cor  15:47. 

2"=»Col.  1:15-17. 


48  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

There  is  a  Christ  mysticism  in  Paul.^"*  The  mysticism  of  the  mystery 
religions  issues  in  identity  with  God.  There  men  cease  to  exist  as  men. 
They  are  god.  But  Paul  never  says,  '*I  am  Christ."  In  spite  of  all 
mysticism  Paul  preserves  his  own  individuality.  Christ  remains 
transcendent,  and  Paul  remains  practical. ^^^  In  the  same  way  even  in 
the  Pauline  mysticism  Christ  does  not  merge  with  theosJ^^ 

In  II  Corinthians  3:17  the  apostle  says,  "the  Lord  is  the  Spirit. "^o; 
And  "Lord"  here  equals  Christ.  This  identification  of  Christ  and  the 
Spirit  occurs  in  cosmological  speculation.  The  Christian  is  in  Christ 
as  in  the  Spirit. ^^s  Christ  is  in  the  Christian  as  the  Spirit  is  in  the 
Christian. 209  There  are  other  similar  comparisons. ^lo  Christ  is  a 
heavenly  power,  a  cosmic  personal  energy  in  which  the  Christian 
is  and  lives.  On  the  other  hand,  Paul  discriminates  between  the 
Spirit  and  Christ.  "Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is 
liberty.""!  ''Now  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit. 
And  there  are  diversities  of  ministrations  and  the  same  Lord. ""2 
Though  Paul  equates  the  Lord  and  the  Spirit,  he  nowhere  equates  the 
Lord  and  theos. 

Moreover,  there  is  very  positive  evidence  that  Paul  both  discrim- 
inated between  Christ  and  God  and  also  subordinated  Christ  to  God. 
The  Christian  belongs  to  Christ,  but  Christ  belongs  to  God:  "ye  are 
Christ*s;  and  Christ  is  God's. "213  The  Christian  confession  is  not  that 
Jesus  is  theos  but  that  Jesus  is  kyrios:  "Because  if  thou  shalt  confess 
with  thy  mouth  Jesus  as  kyrios  and  shall  believe  in  thy  heart  that  God 
raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved. "21*  The  majestic  name 
conferred  upon  the  obedient  one  was  not  theos  or  soter  but  kyrios: 
"Wherefore  also  God  highly  exalted  him,  and  gave  unto  him  the  name 
which  is  above  every  name  .  .  .  that  every  tongue  should  confess 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  kyrios  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father. "215  For  Paul 
there  is  but  one  God:  "For  though  there  be  that  are  called  gods, 
whether  in  heaven  or  on  earth;  as  there  are  gods  many,  and  lords 

2WI  Cor.  6:17;  Gal  3:27;  Col.  1:27,  2:6,  3:3,  etc. 
2<»IICor.  5:14  ff,  Gal.  3:28. 
2»6Col.  3:3,  Rom.  6:10,  Phil.  2:13,  I  Cor.  3:16. 
207  Cf  Bousset's  interesting  discussion  in  Kyrois  Christos,  p.  126  fF. 
208Rom.  8:9,  IlCor.  5:17. 
20M  Cor.  3:16,  Rom.  8:9. 

210  1  Cor.  16:24,  Col.  1:8;  Rom.  14:17,  II  Cor.  5:21,  I  Cor.  6:11,  Gal  2:17. 
2"  II  Cor.  3:17. 
2>2lCor.  12:4  fF. 
213  1  Cor.  3:23.      " 
21*  Rom.  10:9. 

21^  Phil.  2:9-11;  on  Rom.  9:5,  see  Sanday-Headlam  commentary  in  loco  and  Bousset, 
Kyrios  Christos,  p.  185. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME   OF   JESUS  49 

many;  yet  to  us  there  is  one  God,  the  Father,  of  whom  are  all  things 
and  we  unto  him;  and  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  are  all 
things  and  we  through  him/'^ie  Jn  j  Corinthians  15:23-28,  Paul  out- 
lines the  cosmic  program,  narrating  the  resurrection,  the  overthrow  of 
all  the  opposing  powers.  Finally,  the  kingdom  is  delivered  to  God 
and  the  Son  himself  is  subjected  to  God,  that  **God  may  be  all  in  all." 
Jewish  monotheism  survives  in  Paul  the  Christian  with  noteworthy 
persistence.    Paul  nowhere  sustains  the  equation,  Christ  equals  theos. 

(3)  The  Christology  of  various  primitive  Christian  documents 
omitting  the  title  soter.^^'' 

The  subordination  of  Jesus  to  God  appears  throughout  I  Peter.^^s 
Christ  is  kyrios:  "But  sanctify  in  your  hearts  Christ  as  kyrios.'*^^^  The 
author's  Christology  is  epitomized  in  these  words:  "if  any  man 
speaketh,  speaking  as  it  were  oracles  of  God;  if  any  man  ministereth, 
ministering  as  of  the  strength  which  God  supplieth:  that  in  all  things 
God  may  be  glorified  through  Jesus  Christ,  whose  is  the  glory  and  the 
dominion  forever  and  ever."22o  The  word  soter  does  not  occur  in  I 
Peter  and  Jesus  is  not  called  theos. 

In  the  epistle  of  James,  God  is  clearly  supreme.  Prayer  is  addressed 
to  God:  "But  if  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God;" 
"therewith  bless  we  the  Lord  and  Father."22i  The  believer  draws  nigh 
to  God  and  is  subject  to  him. "2  God  tempts  no  man  but  as  Father 
bestows  good  and  perfect  gifts. 223  God  is  one.  The  parousia  of  Christ 
is  mentioned  in  passing.224  Christ  is  kyrios  but  not  theos.^^^  There  is 
not  the  slightest  trace  of  the  equation,  Christ  equals  theos  and  soter  is 
not  employed. 

The  socalled  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  emphasizes  the  idea  of  salva- 
tion. Testament,  priesthood,  sacrifice  of  Christ,  death  of  Christ, 
shedding  of  blood  are  primary  words  of  his  theological  vocabulary. 
Jesus  became  incarnate  to  die  and  thus  "bring  to  naught  him  that  had 
power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil. "226  "And  apart  from  the  shedding 

2'«ICor.  8:5,  6. 

2'^  The  earlier  strata  of  synoptic  material  have  been  examined  under  14  (1)  (2).  To 
raise  the  question  of  the  authors'  personal  Christology  is  not  pertinent  to  this  investiga- 
tion. 

2'8lPet.  1:3,2:5,3:22. 

219  3:15. 

2204:11. 

221  James  1:5,  3:9. 

222  4:7,8. 

223  1:13,  17,  27;  3:9. 

224  2:19. 
226  5:7. 

226  Hebrews  2:14. 


50  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

of  blood  there  is  no  remission. "227  "But  now  once  at  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  ages  hath  he  been  manifested  to  put  away  sin  by  the 
sacrifice  of  himself."228  **But  he,  when  he  had  offered  one  sacrifice  for 
sins,  forever  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  God. "229  "^q  Christ  also, 
having  been  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many,  shall  appear  a 
second  time,  apart  from  sin,  to  them  that  wait  for  him  unto  salva- 
tion."23"  Jesus  is  the  author  of  eternal  salvation.  Jesus  is  the  high- 
priest,  one  of  the  author's  favorite  terms. 231  With  such  an  emphasis  on 
salvation,  soter  would  almost  seem  essential  to  the  complete  descrip- 
tion of  Jesus.    But  soter  nowhere  appears. 

The  humanity  of  Jesus  is  one  of  the  chief  interests  of  the  author  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  "We  have  a  high-priest  that  hath  been 
in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin;"  "who  in  the  days 
of  his  flesh  offered  up  prayers  and  supplications  with  strong  crying 
unto  him  that  was  able  to  save  him  from  death;"  "for  in  that  he 
himself  hath  suffered  being  tempted,  he  is  able  to  succor  them  that  are 
tempted"232 — passages  like  these  show  how  the  synoptic  picture  of 
Jesus  had  made  a  permanent  impression  on  the  author  of  Hebrews. 

There  is  constant  discrimination  in  Hebrews  between  God  and 
Christ.  God  is  supreme.  Christ  is  subordinated  to  God.  God  made 
Jesus  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 233  made  Jesus  perfect  through 
suffering.234  Godappointed  Jesus  son  and  high-priest. 235  Christ  learned 
obedience  through  the  things  which  he  suffered. 236  Christ  came  to  do 
God's  will. 237  God  is  the  judge  of  all. 238  Indeed,  terminology  reminis- 
cent of  an  adoptive  sonship  of  Christ  is  found.  Thus  in  Hebrews  1 :5, 
"for  unto  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time.  Thou  art  my  Son, 
this  day  have  I  begotten  thee .?  I  will  be  to  him  a  Father,  And  he  shall 
be  to  me  a  Son. "239  Just  so  Christ  was  constituted  high-priest. 2"  It 
may  be  difficult  to  ascertain  when  Jesus  was  appointed  son  or  high- 
priest,  but  the  appointive,  declarative,  acclaiming,  constituting  ele- 

227  9:22. 

228  9i26! 

229  10:12. 

230  9:28. 

2314:14,7:25  f,  9:24,  10:12. 

232  4-15^  5.7  ff^  2:10  f,  18. 

233  2 :9. 

234  2:10. 

235  1:5,5:5,  10. 
23«5:8. 

237 10:7. 

238  12:2,23. 

239  cf  5:5. 
2«5:6,  10. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF   JESUS  51 

ment  may  not  be  obliterated  from  the  idea  of  sonship.  This  is  deci- 
sively settled  by  Hebrews  7:28,  where  for  the  fourth  time  the  ap- 
pointive element  is  emphasized :  **  For  the  law  appoints  human  beings 
in  their  weakness  to  the  priesthood;  but  the  word  of  the  oath  which 
was  after  the  law  appoints  a  Son  who  is  made  perfect  forever."^*!  The 
idea  of  the  eternity  of  Christ  does  not  at  all  exclude  the  idea  of  ap- 
pointment to  sonship.  And  at  the  close  of  the  incarnate  period,  Christ 
merely  sits  down  **  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God."2<2  Finally, 
the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  indicates  how 
everything  centers  in  God. 

Favorite  titles  of  Christ  in  Hebrews  are  Son,  High-priest,  and  Lord.'" 
Christ's  pre-existence  is  assumed. ^^^  Through  Christ  God  made  the 
cosmos:  ** through  whom  he  also  made  the  worlds;"  **thou.  Lord,  in 
the  beginning  didst  lay  the  foundation  of  the  earth.  And  the  heavens 
are  the  works  of  thy  hands:  They  shall  perish;  but  thou  continu- 
est:    .     .    .    thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail. "245    All  the 

angels  of  the  Lord  are  summoned  to  the  worship  of  the  firstborn. ^^^  The 
Son  is  superior  to  the  angels  and  Moses  and  Melchizedek.^*^ 

The  only  verse  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  that  could  be  cited  to 
establish  the  equation,  Christ  equals  theos  is  found  in  the  first  chapter: 
*'but  of  the  Son,  he  saith,  thy  throne,  O  God,  is  forever  and  ever""? — 
provided  this  is  the  correct  translation.  The  context  makes  it  plain 
that  the  emphasis  is  on  the  eternal  sway  of  the  Son  and  not  on  the  ad- 
dress. In  verse  five  of  this  same  first  chapter  occur  words  reminiscent 
of  the  adoptive  stage  of  Christology.  Further,  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  God,  who  is  the  speaker,  should  say  to  his  chosen  Son,  ^'th}' 
throne,  O  God,  is  forever  and  ever."  This  would  be  a  dualism  not 
elsewhere  discernible  in  our  homily.  This  confusion  becomes  more 
confounded  in  verse  nine,  for  we  should  be  compelled  to  inquire  what 
relation  the  speaker  (God)  sustains  to  the  two  gods  here  mentioned. 
Westcott  proposed,  **God  is  thy  throne  forever  and  ever"  as  the 
proper  rendering  of  our  verse  and  as  the  way  out  of  the  dilemma.  The 
problem  is  more  easily  solved  by  recalling  that  verse  eight  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Hebrews  is  a  quotation  from  the  Old  Testament.    Even  in 

2«  cf  1 :2. 

2«12:2. 

2«1:5,  5:5,  7:28,  4:14,  7:27,2:3,7:14,  13:20,  1:10. 

2<*1:6,  10:5  ff,  2:14. 

2«1:2,  lOfF. 

2*»1:6. 

24M:4,  4:14— 10:18. 

2«  1 :8. 


52  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

the  Old  Testament  passage  the  first  "0  God"  is  troublesome  and  is 
regarded  as  an  insertion. 249  Whatever  difficulty  is  present  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  is  due  to  the  preacher's  straight  quotation  from  the 
Greek  Old  Testament.  He  did  not  pause  to  make  any  necessary  ad- 
justments because  he  was  emphasizing  the  eternal  sway  of  the  Son 
and  because  according  to  his  exegesis  the  quotation  did  not  mean  that 
Christ  was  theos.  The  remainder  of  the  homily  demonstrates  that 
the  "writer  did  not  advance  to  the  idea  of  an  essential  divinity  of 
the  Son  in  the  sense  of  identity  with  God. "250 

The  opposition  of  the  Johannine  apocalypse  to  the  Roman  empire 
might  sufficiently  account  for  its  avoidance  of  the  title  or  name  soter. 
But  even  here  it  is  nowhere  affirmed  that  Christ  is  God.  The  author 
is  at  great  pains  to  discriminate  between  God  and  Christ:  *'And  he 
made  us  to  be  a  kingdom,  to  be  priests  unto  his  God  and  Father;"  "the 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  which  God  gave  him;"  "I  have  found  no 
works  of  thine  perfected  before  my  God;"  "he  that  overcometh  I  will 
make  him  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God;"  "and  they  cry  with  a 
great  voice,  saying,  salvation  unto  our  God  who  sitteth  on  the  throne 
and  unto  the  lamb;"  "now  is  come  the  salvation  and  the  power  and  the 
kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  authority  of  his  Christ;"  "that  keep  the 
commandments  of  God  and  hold  the  testimony  of  Jesus;"  "to  gather 
them  together  unto  the  war  of  the  great  day  of  God,  the  Almighty;" 
"but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  Christ. "^^i 

Moreover,  Christ  is  subordinated  to  God.  God  is  the  God  of 
Jesus. 252  The  believer  is  to  share  the  sovereignty  with  Christ,  as  Christ 
shares  the  sovereignty  with  God. 2"  Christ  is  Son. 254  God  not  Christ  is 
the  judge  of  the  world. 255  Usually  it  is  God  who  is  worshipped.  "And 
they  fell  before  the  throne  on  their  faces  and  worshipped  God;"  "and 
he  said  with  a  great  voice.  Fear  God,  and  give  him  glory,  for  the  hour 
of  his  judgment  is  come:  and  worship  him  that  made  the  heaven  and 
and  the  earth  and  the  sea  and  fountains  of  waters;"  "and  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  and  the  four  living  creatures  fell  down  and  worshipped 
God  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  saying.  Amen,  Hallelujah;"  "and  I 
fell  down  before  his  feet  to  worship  him.    And  he  said  unto  me.  See 

2«  ct  Kautzsch  on  Psalm  45:7. 

250  Mac  Neill,  H.  L..  The  Christology  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  Chicago,  1914, 
p.  102. 
25iRev.l:l,6;2:18;3:2,5,  12;7:10,  11,  17;  9:13;11:15;12:10, 17;  14:4, 12;  16:14,  20:6. 
252  1:6;2:7;3:2,  12. 
2533:21. 

254  3:5,21;  14:1. 

255  3:5. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  53 

thou  do  it  not:  I  am  a  fellow  servant  with  thee  and  with  thy  brethren 
that  hold  the  testimony  of  Jesus:  worship  God;"  ''and  he  said  unto 
me,  See  thou  do  it  not:  I  am  a  fellow  servant  with  thee  and  thy 
brethren  the  prophets  and  with  them  that  keep  the  words  of  this 
book:  worship  God."^^^ 

There  are  other  passages  in  the  Johannine  apocalypse  where  the 
Lamb  is  associated  with  God  in  worship;  just  as  we  previously  ob- 
served the  primitive  church  worshipping  Christ.  The  fifth  chapter 
provides  a  good  illustration.  The  Lamb  has  taken  the  "book  written 
within  and  on  the  back,  close  sealed  with  seven  seals."  Thereupon 
the  four  living  creatures  and  the  four  and  twenty  elders  fall  down 
before  the  Lamb.  They  have  harps  and  the  golden  bowls  of  the 
prayers  of  the  saints.  They  sing  a  new  song.  The  chorus  is  continued 
by  many  angels  and  finally  every  created  thing  in  heaven  and  on 
earth  and  on  the  sea  says,  ''Unto  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
unto  the  Lamb,  be  the  blessing  and  the  honor  and  the  glory  and  the 
dominion  forever  and  ever.  And  the  four  living  creatures  said.  Amen. 
And  the  elders  fell  down  and  worshipped."""  Again,  the  innumerable 
multitude  arrayed  in  white  robes  with  palms  in  their  hands,  cry: 
"Salvation  unto  God  who  sitteth  on  the  throne  and  unto  the  Lamb."258 

In  the  first  chapter  the  LivingOne  has  the  keys  of  death  and  Hades, 259 
a  power  associated  with  God  in  apocalyptic  tradition.  The  name  of 
the  one  on  the  white  horse  is  Logos  of  God,  but  the  term  here  has  to 
do  with  the  judgment  and  conflict  and  is  not  used  with  the  significance 
given  it  in  the  fourth  gospel.  Christ  is  also  Lord  of  Lords,  and  King 
of  Kings  but  Christ  is  not  theos.  Whether  the  Johannine  apocalypse 
avoids  soter  because  of  opposition  to  the  imperial  cult  may  be  debated. 
But  the  passage  remains  to  be  discovered  in  which  Christ  is  equated 
with  ^A^oj-.26o 

In  the  Epistle  of  Clement  there  appears  to  be  deliberate  avoidance 
of  the  word  soter.  "This  is  the  way,  beloved,  in  which  we  found 
our  salvation^  Jesus  Christ,  the  high-priest  of  our  offerings,  the  defender 
helper  {^orjSov)  of  our  weakness;"  "O  thou  who  alone  art  able  to  do 
these  things  and  far  better  things  for  us,  we  praise  thee  through  Jesus 


256  7:11,  11:17,  14:7,  19:4  f  10,  22:9. 

25^5:8,  13  ff. 

258  7.9  f, 

259  1:18  cf  3:7. 

260  Even  Buechsel,  Die  Chrlstologie  der  OflFenbarung  Johannis,  Halle,  1907,  admits 
that  he  has  not  found  such  a  verse. 


54  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

Christ,  the  high-priest  and  guardian  of  our  souls. "^ei  Further,  God  is 
universally  supreme  and  Christ  is  subordinated  to  him.  We  cite  but 
one  of  a  host  of  instances.  *' All  who  believe  and  hope  on  God  shall 
have  redemption  through  the  blood  of  the  Lord. '* 262  fhe  doxologies 
are  in  honor  of  God:  "to  glorify  the  name  of  the  true  and  only  God,  to 
whom  be  the  glory  forever  and  ever.  Amen.^^cs  Christ  is  to  be  rever- 
enced and  God  is  to  be  worshipped. 2^4  Three  words  are  reserved  for 
God:    Oeos,  decrirorrjs,  drjjjLLOVpyos^^^ 

The  unity  of  God  is  affirmed:  "to  glorify  the  name  of  the  true  and 
only  God;"  "have  we  not  one  God.^^ee  The  absolute  monotheism  of 
the  author  of  the  Epistle  of  Clement  is  illustrated  in  his  prayer:  "let 
all  nations  know  thee,  that  thou  art  God  alone  and  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  thy  child. "267  Nowhere  in  this  long  letter  to  the  church  at  Corinth  is 
soter  employed  of  Christ  and  nowhere  is  the  equation  Christ  is  iheos 
found. 

In  the  Didacht,  kyrios  is  the  fayorite  title  of  Christ. 2«8  Other  titles 
employed  are  "Son,"  "Child,"  "Jesus  Christ. "2^9  Thetrinitarian  for- 
mula occurs:  "baptize,  in  the  Name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. "2^0  Chapters  9  and  10 emphasize  the  supremacy  of 
God.  Prayer  is  offered  to  the  Father.  In  chapter  16:7,  we  read:  "but 
not  of  all  the  dead,  but  as  it  was  said,  'The  Lord  shall  come  and  all  his 
saints  with  him.'  "  Here  language  originally  applied  to  Yahweh  is 
used  of  Christ.  Yet  this  is  far  removed  from  the  proposition  that 
Christ  is  God,  as  the  passages  in  the  New  Testament  involving  a 
similar  employment  of  Old  Testament  statements  abundantly 
demonstrate.  Thus  once  more  we  find  the  omission  of  soter  coupled 
with  data  that  Christ  is  not  theos. 

In  considering  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  we  must  remember  that  the 
author  was  a  stalwart  among  the  allegorists  and  that  the  composition 
was  "intended  for  some  community,  in  which  Alexandrian  ideas  pre- 


261  36:1,  61 :3,  64:1,  see  further  Stark,  A.  R.,  The  Christology  in  the  Apostolic  Fathers, 
Chicago,  1912. 

262  12:7  cf  7:4;  20:11;  26:1;  1:1,  3;  2:3,  8;  3:4;  8:1;  14:1;  19:2;  21:7;  24:1;  26:7;  30:3,  6; 
33:2;  35:1,  6,  12;  4:1;  43:3;  50:3;  56:1;  65:2. 

2«43:6cf58:2,  61:3,  20:12,  50:7. 
26^21:6;  38:2;  48:1,  50. 

265  8:2;  11:1;  20:11;  33:1,  2;  20:11;  33:2;  35:3,  etc. 

266  43:6,46:6,58:2,49:5  f. 

267  59:4. 

268  Didache  4:1,  12,  13;  6:2;  8:2;  9:5;  10:5;  11:2,  4,  8,  etc. 

269  9:2,3,4;  10:2;  7:1,  3;  9:4;  12:5. 

270  7:1.3. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  55 

vailed.""!  Xhe  allegorist  is  always  in  quest  ofthe  deeper  meaning  of 
an  Old  Testament  statement.    One  illustration  must  suffice. 

'*  Learn  fully  then,  children  of  love,  concerning  all  things,  for 
Abraham,  who  first  circumcised,  did  so  looking  forward  in  the  spirit 
of  Jesus,  and  had  received  the  doctrines  of  three  letters.  For  it  says, 
*And  Abraham  circumcised  from  his  household  eighteen  men  and 
three  hundred.'  What  then  was  the  knowledge  that  was  given  to 
him?  Notice  that  he  first  mentions  the  eighteen  and  after  a  pause 
the  three  hundred.  The  eighteen  is  I  (ten)  and  H  (eight) — you  have 
Jesus — and  because  the  cross  was  destined  to  have  grace,  in  the  T  he 
says  *and  three  hundred.*  So  he  indicates  Jesus  in  the  two  letters  and 
the  cross  in  the  other."272 

By  this  method  of  interpreting  the  Old  Testament,  Barnabas  is 
able  to  confiscate  the  Jewish  scriptures  for  the  Christian  church:  "It 
is  ours:  but  in  this  way  did  they  finally  lose  it  when  Moses  had  just 
received  it."2V3Bai-nabas  has  a  broad  view  of  the  holy  scriptures,  deny- 
ing the  literal  significance  to  the  law  and  regarding  the  ceremonial  en- 
actments as  the  device  of  a  deceiving  evil  angel.  He  quotes  Enoch  as 
scripture"*  and  calls  theapocalyptist  Ezra  prophet.  Barnabas  ascribes 
pre-existence  to  the  kyrios^"^^  He  discriminates  between  God  and 
Christ. "«  The  subordination  of  Christ  to  the  Father  is  clearly  asserted, 
when  the  author  remarks:  "For  it  is  written  that  the  Father  enjoins 
on  him  that  he  should  redeem  us  from  darkness  and  prepare  holy 
people  for  himself."^"  The  only  statement  that  could  be  quoted  to 
vindicate  the  proposition  that  Christ  is  theos  is,  "thou  shalt  not  com- 
mand in  bitterness  thy  slave  or  handmaid  who  hope  on  the  same  God, 
lest  they  cease  to  fear  the  God  who  is  over  you  both;  for  he  comes  not 
to  call  men  with  respect  of  persons,  but  those  whom  the  Spirit  pre- 
pared.""«  The  last  statement  is  reminiscent  of  a  saying  of  Jesus.  Does 
Barnabas  then  assert  that  God  is  Christ.?  Recall,  first  of  all,  that  our 
quotation  appears  in  the  portion  of  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  which 
makes  use  of  the  document  known  as  "the  Two  Ways,"  and  the 
affirmation  may  be  due  to  the  document  and  not  to  the  allegorist. 
The  clause  may  also  be  a  careless  addition  to  the  source.    It  is  at  any 

27»  Lake,  Apostolic  Fathers,  New  York,  1912,  I  337. 

272  Barnabas  9:7  fcf  6;  8:4  f;  10:1  If;  11:1  ff;  12:1  IF;  14:1  fF. 

273  4:6  f,  13:1  fF. 

274  4:3. 

276  5:5. 

27«5:9;  7:2,9;  12:8  fF;  14:5. 

277  14:6  cfcliapter  16. 
278 19:7. 


56  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

rate  puzzling  that  ''he"  should  be  used  when  in  the  immediate  context 
"God"  has  so  repeatedly  appeared.  It  may  be  that  the  author  by 
employing  *'he"  has  in  mind  God  in  Christ.  Possibly  too  the  alle- 
gorist  has  omitted  the  intervening  link  and  has  passed  directly  to  his 
symbol.  One  who  could  say,  "God  says,"  "the  prophet  says,"  "the 
scripture  says"279  without  intending  that  we  should  conclude  that  he 
identifies  "God"  and  "the  scripture"  could  easily  assign  a  saying  of 
Christ  to  God  without  feeling  that  he  was  thereby  affirming  that 
Christ  is  identical  with  God.  Indeed,  the  monotheism  of  "now  may 
God,  who  is  the  Lord  over  all  the  world,  give  you  wisdom,  under- 
standing, prudence,  knowledge  of  his  ordinances,  patience.  And  be 
taught  of  God"28o  cannot  be  discounted,  and  this  quotation  is  from  the 
same  section  of  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas.  Hence,  our  conclusion  is  that 
the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  does  not  assert  that  Christ  is  theos  and  soter 
does  not  occur. 

The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  contains  a  rather  perplexing  Christology. 
The  glorious  angel  is  Michael;  the  glorious  angel  is  the  Son  of  God; 
the  Son  is  the  Spirit;  the  Spirit  is  the  Church. ^^i  Throughout  this 
apocalypse,  the  author  discriminates  between  God  and  Christ.  God 
is  very  much  in  the  foreground  of  the  description.  Christians  pray  to 
God,  propitiate  God,  confess  their  sins  to  God,  love  God,  serve  God, 
fear  God,  obey  the  commandments  of  God,  live  to  God,  are  saints  of 
God,  have  been  chosen  of  God — the  entire  Christian  life  and  worship 
center  on  God.^^^  God  is  supreme:  "the  Holy  Spirit  which  goes  forth, 
which  created  all  creation,  did  God  make  to  dwell  in  the  flesh  which  he 
willed ''"^^^  The  pre-existence  and  cosmic  significance  of  the  Son  of  God 
are  affirmed  in  Similitude  IX  12:1-3,  14:5.  Two  quotations  will  show 
that  Hermas  does  not  identify  Christ  with  God:  "For  the  former 
ignorances,'  said  he,  *it  is  possible  for  God  alone  to  give  healing,  for  'he 
has  all  power;'  "  "first  of  all  believe  that  God  is  one,  'who  made  all 
things  and  perfected  them  ....  and  contains  all  things  and  is 
himself  alone  uncontained.'  "^^^  And  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  does  not 
contain  the  word  soter. 

(4.)  The  Christology  of  primitive  Christian  documents  containing 
the  title  soter. 

•'-'^1-A,7,  10;  3:1;  4:11;  14:4. 

280  21:5  f. 

281  Sim.  VIII  3:3,  1X8,  1:1. 

282  Vis.  I  1:9,  II  1:2,  2:1;  Sim.  II,  6;  Vis.  I  2:1,  3:1;  Vis.  Ill  1 :6,  8:8,  9:2;  Mand.  V  1:1. 

283  Sim.  V  6:5. 

28'*  Sim.  V  7:3,  Mand.  I. 


AS   TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  57 

Thus  far  our  study  of  the  documents  omitting  soter  has  shown 
that  they  do  not  support  the  equation  that  Christ  is  theos.  We  should 
now  examine  the  documents  that  contain  the  title  soter  to  ascertain 
whether  they  also  support  the  proposition  that  Christ  is  theos. 

The  Pastoral  Epistles  furnish  instances  o{  soter  as  title  both  of  God 
and  of  Jesus.  The  instances  where  soter  is  used  of  God  confirm  our 
previous  conclusion  that  soter  in  the  religious  vocabulary  of  the  first 
century  was  associated  with  theos.  The  other  member  of  our  equation 
is  also  sustained  for  Christ  is  here  called  theos.  Thus,  in  the  Epistle  to 
Titus  2:13,  *' looking  for  the  blessed  hope  and  appearing  of  the  glory 
of  our  great  God  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ." 

In  the  Johannine  literature  the  title  ** Savior  of  the  world"  was 
twice  employed  of  Christ.  The  Johannine  gospel  is  a  philosophical 
poem  whose  hero  is  Jesus  the  incarnate  God  and  whose  theme  is  salva- 
tion. From  those  earliest  moments  near  Jordan,  at  the  very  dawn  of 
the  new  time,  Jesus  is  the  lamb  of  God  bearing  the  sin  of  the  whole 
world.  The  elaborate  description  of  the  trial  and  crucifixion  forms 
the  necessary  sequel  to  the  confession  of  the  Baptist,  ''Behold,  the 
lamb  of  God. "285  Statements  like  "God  sent  not  the  Son  into  the  world 
to  judge  the  world  but  that  the  world  should  be  saved  through  him;" 
*'I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life;"  ''And  who  is  he  that  overcometh 
the  world  but  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God"  reveal 
the  principal  subject  of  the  evangelist.  Even  the  Samaritans  so  hated 
by  the  orthodox  Jews  make  the  great  discovery  that  this  one  is  the 
Savior  of  the  world.  The  man  born  blind  concludes  that  this  is  the 
Son  of  God.  Jesus  goes  forth  to  meet  death  as  a  conqueror  and  not 
as  the  trembling  man  of  Gethsemane.  Jesus  was  sent  to  be  the  light 
and  life  of  the  world,  to  bestow  life  eternal,  indestructible,  the  opposite 
of  all  dying  and  weakness.  The  fourth  gospel  definitely  acclaims 
Jesus  God.  Jesus  was  the  Logos.  "And  the  Logos  was  God."^^^  "No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only  begotten  God  who  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him."287  '*  For  this  cause  there- 
fore the  Jews  sought  the  more  to  kill  him,  because  he  not  only  broke 
the  sabbath  but  also  called  God  his  own  Father  making  himself  equal 
with  God. "288  "Not  that  any  man  hath  seen  the  Father, only  he  who  is 


285  Cf.  Heltmueller  on  the  Gospel  of  John  in  Weiss*  Die  Schriften  des  N.  T.,  Goet- 
tingen,  1907,  8. 
288  1 :1. 

287  1:*18. 

288  5:18. 


58  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

from  God,  he  hath  seen  the  Father/'^sg  "And  he  said,  'Lord,  I  beHeve.' 
And  he  worshipped  him. "290  **Xhe  Jews  answered  him,  'For  a  good 
work  we  stone  thee  not  but  for  blasphemy;  and  because  that  thou, 
being  a  man,  makest  thyself  God.'  "^^i  "And  this  is  life  eternal,  that 
they  should  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  him  thou  didst  send 
Jesus  Christ"  (how.?  "as  the  true  God.?"). 292  "Thomas  answered  and 
said  unto  him,  'my  Lord  and  my  God.'  "293  ''And  we  know  that  the 
Son  of  God  is  come,  and  hath  given  us  an  understanding,  that  we 
know  him  that  is  true,  and  we  are  in  him  that  is  true,  even  in  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the  true  God  and  eternal  life. "29*  In  the  Johan- 
nine  literature  Christ  is  theos  soter. 

Second  Peter  provided  five  instances  of  soter  with  reference  to 
Jesus.  Three  times  the  expression  "our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus 
Christ,"  once  the  expression  "the  righteousness  of  our  God  and 
Savior  Jesus  Christ,"  once  the  expression  "the  commandment  of  the 
Lord  and  Savior  through  your  apostles"  occurred.  We  observe,  then, 
that  Second  Peter  has  theos  soter.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  draw 
the  line  between  kyrios  equivalent  to  God  and  kyrios  equivalent  to 
Christ  in  Second  Peter.  For  example,  in  II  Peter  3:10,  "day  of  the 
Lord"  is  "day  of  Christ,"  but  in  II  Peter  3:8-9  "the  Lord"  is  clearly 
God.  Are  we  to  conclude  from  this  that  Christ  is  God.?  There  are 
only  two  instances  in  II  Peter  in  which  ^yWoj  certainly  refers  to  God. 2^5 
There  are  eight  instances  in  which  kyrios  certainly  refers  to  Christ. 
The  others  are  doubtful.  However,  the  case  may  finally  stand  with 
reference  to  kyrios^  we  have  one  instance  in  which  the  author  says 
"our  God  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ."  Therefore,  II  Peter  sustains  our 
thesis  that  where  soter  appears,  there  theos  is  also  found. 

The  Ignatian  epistles  contained  four  instances  of  the  use  oi  soter  as 
title  of  Jesus. 296  To  answer  our  question  whether  Ignatius  identifies 
Jesus  with  God,  consider  the  following  quotations  from  the  genuine 
epistles.  "I  became  acquainted  through  God  with  your  much  beloved 
name  which  you  have  obtained  by  your  righteous  nature  according  to 
faith  and  love  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Savior.    You  are  imitators  of  God 


289  6:46. 

290  9:38. 

291  10:33. 

292  17;3^ 

293  20i28. 

29*1  John  5:20. 

29^2:9,  11. 

296Ephes.  1:1,  Magn.  Intro.  Phil.  9:2,  Smyr.  7:1. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  59 

and,  having  kindled  your  brotherly  task  hy  the  blood  of  God,  you  com- 
pleted it  perfectly. "297  '*  gy  ^hg  yf[\\  of  the  Father  and  Jesus  Christ  our 
God. "298  ''There  is  one  Physician  who  is  both  flesh  and  spirit,  born 
and  yet  not  born,  who  is  God  in  man. "299  "Let  us  therefore  do  all 
things  as  though  he  were  dwelling  in  us,  that  we  may  be  his  temples 
and  that  he  may  be  our  God  in  us."^"^  '*  For  our  God,  Jesus  the  Christ, 
was  conceived  by  Mary  by  the  dispensation  of  God."3oi  **  Beware 
therefore  of  such  men;  and  this  will  be  possible  for  you,  if  you  are  not 
puflFed  up,  and  are  inseparable  from  our  God  Jesus  Christ. "302  "Abund- 
ant greeting  in  Jesus  Christ, our  God. "303  "Nothing visible  is  good,  for 
our  God  Jesus  Christ  being  now  in  the  Father  is  more  plainly  visible. "^o* 
"  Suffer  me  to  follow  the  passion  of  my  God."'"^  **  I  give  glory  to  Jesus 
Christ  the  God  who  has  thus  given  you  wisdom. "^oe  "You  did  well 
to  receive  as  deacons  of  Christ  God,  Philo  and  Rheus  Agathopous  who 
followed  me  in  the  cause  of  God. "307  "J  bid  you  farewell  always  in  our 
God,  Jesus  Christ;  you  may  remain  in  him  in  the  unity  and  care  of 
God. "308   Evidently  for  Ignatius,  Christ  is  theos  soter. 

The  Epistle  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians  contained  "mercy  and 
peace  from  God  Almighty  and  Jesus  Christ  our  Savior"  and  the 
martyrdom  of  Polycarp  reads,  "he  is  blessing  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Savior  of  our  souls. "^o"  Both  the  epistle  and  the  narrative  are  very 
practical  in  aim.  The  former  is  largely  composed  of  New  Testament 
quotations,  while  the  latter  is  evidently  modeled  on  the  passion  of 
Christ  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  intimate  relation  between 
Ignatius  and  Polycarp  would  presuppose  acquaintance  on  the  part  of 
Polycarp  with  the  Ignatian  theory  that  Christ  is  God.  But  we  need 
not  depend  on  assumption.  The  letter  of  Polycarp  states  that  its 
author  is  familiar  with  the  Ignatian  correspondence. "o  Indeed,  Poly- 
carp transmits  with  approval  Ignatian  letters.    And  Ignatius  writing 


2"Ephes.  1:1. 
298  Ephes.  Introd. 
2997.2 

300  15:3. 

301  18:2* 

302  Trail.  7:1;  "A"  omits  theoti;  text  in  doubt. 

303  Romans  Introd. 
3**  3:3. 

305  6-3! 
306Smyrn.  1:1. 

307  10:1  according  to  G  (L);  "deacons  of  God"  according  to  BA. 

308  Polycarp  8:3. 

309  Martyrdom  of  Polyc.  19:2. 
31"  13:2. 


60  THE    COMBINATION   THEOS    SOTER 

to  Polycarp,  bids  him  "farewell  always  in  our  God  Jesus  Christ. "^^^ 
Hence  in  such  a  letter  as  that  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians,  we  are 
not  surprised  to  discover,  ^' qui  credituri  sunt  in  dominum  nostrum  et 
deum  Jesum  Christum.^'^^^  And  the  Martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  orig- 
inating in  the  same  vicinity  some  four  decades  later  than  the  epistle 
to  the  Philippians  would  also  formally  sustain  the  equation  that  Christ 
is  God,  were  it  not  so  fundamentally  biographical  and  modelled  on 
the  New  Testament.  The  author's  theology  is  obvious,  for  Polycarp 
when  exhorted  to  "swear  by  the  genius  (tuchen)  of  Caesar"  and  to  say, 
"away  with  the  atheists  (tous  atheous)^^^  is  represented  as  replying, 
"How  can  I  blaspheme  my  king  who  saved  me?"  Christ  is  the 
Christian  imperator  in  antithesis  to  Caesar  the  god  and  Christ  is  also 
savior.  This  is  the  significance  of  the  answer  of  Polycarp,  if  we  recall 
that  the  scene  takes  place  in  the  East,  where  the  emperors  had  long 
been  equated  with  gods.^i* 

The  homily  known  as  H  Clement  furnishes  one  instance  of  soter 
with  reference  to  Jesus:  "To  the  only  invisible  God,  the  father  of 
truth,  who  sent  forth  to  us  the  Savior  and  prince  of  immortality.""' 
And  this  sermon  begins,  "Brethren,  we  must  think  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
of  God. "318  "And  another  scripture  also  says,  T  come  not  to  call  the 
righteous  but  sinners.'  "^i^  The  words  of  Jesus  are  scripture.  "And  he 
(i.  e.  Christ)  says  also  in  Isaiah,  "This  people  honoreth  me  with  their 
lips  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me""^ — the  Old  Testament  speaking  is 
Christ  speaking.  "Let  us  then  wait  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  from  hour 
to  hour  in  love  and  righteousness  seeing  that  we  know  not  the  day  of 
the  appearing  of  God.  For  when  the  Lord  himself  was  asked  by  some- 
one when  his  kingdom  would  come,  he  said;  When  the  two  shall  be  one 
and  the  outside  as  the  inside,  and  the  male  with  the  female,  neither 
male  nor  female. "^i^  "For  when  they  hear  from  us  that  God  says:  *It 
is  no  credit  to  you  if  ye  love  them  that  love  you,  but  it  is  a  credit  to 
you  if  ye  love  your  enemies  and  those  who  hate  you"32o — Jesus  speak- 
ing is  God  speaking.    "Let  us  then  remain  righteous  and  holy  in  our 

3"  8:3. 

312  12:2  "  et  deum  is  omitted  by  some  of  the  manuscripts  of  L." 

313  9:2,10:1. 

31*  See  Wendland,   Kulturgeschichte   149  fF  and  compare  Pliny's  "Carmen  dicere 
Christo  quasi  deo"  and   especially  Reitzenstein,  Poimandres  p.  176  ffon  basileus  soter. 
315 II  Clement  20:5. 

316  1:1. 

317  2:4. 
31^3:5. 

319  12:1  ffcf  17:4. 

320  13:4. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  61 

faith,  that  we  may  pray  with  confidence  to  God,  who  says,  'While  thou 
art  speaking,  I  will  say,  Behold  here  am  I.'  For  this  saying  is  the  sign 
of  a  great  promise;  for  the  Lord  says  that  he  is  more  ready  to  give  than 
we  to  ask. "321  J|-  would  seem  that  the  author  of  II  Clement  knows 
Christ  as  both  soter  and  theos. 

The  writings  of  Justin  the  Martyr  contained  numerous  instances  of 
soter  employed  of  Jesus.  Justin  appropriated  Old  Testament  passages 
involving  God  for  Jesus.  His  view  of  the  Old  Testament  permits  him 
to  assert  that  Christ  is  there  called  both  God  and  Lord  of  Hosts  and 
Jacob. 322  "Moreover  in  the  'diapsalm'  of  the  forty-sixth  psalm  refer- 
ence is  thus  made  to  Christ:  God  went  up  with  a  shout  .  .  .  sing 
ye  to  our  God."323  "Accordingly  in  the  forty-fourth  psalm,  these  words 
are  in  like  manner  referred  to  Christ  ....  thy  throne,  O  God, 
is  forever  and  ever."'24  Jn  x\\e  forty-eighth  chapter  of  the  Dialogue 
with  Trypho,  the  Jewish  opponent  says:  "When  you  say  that  this 
Christ  existed  as  God  before  the  ages  .  .  .  this  appears  to  me  to  be 
not  merely  paradoxical  but  also  foolish.'  Justin  replies:  **Now 
assuredly,  Trypho,  the  proof  that  this  man  is  the  Christ  of  God  does 
not  fail,  though  I  be  unable  to  prove  that  he  existed  formerly  as  Son 
of  the  Maker  of  all  things,  being  God,  and  was  born  a  man  by  the 
virgin. "325  "Therefore  these  words  (Ps.  45:7fF)  testify  explicitly  that 
He  is  witnessed  to  by  Him  who  established  these  things  as  deserving 
to  be  worshipped  as  God  and  as  Christ. "326  "Some  scriptures  .  .  . 
expressly  show  Christ  as  suffering,  as  to  be  worshipped  and  as  God."'^^ 
"For  if  you  had  understood  what  has  been  written  by  the  prophets, 
you  would  not  have  denied  that  He  was  God,  son  of  the  only,  unbe- 
gotten,  unalterable  God. "328  "Christ  being  Lord  and  God,  the  Son  of 
God. "329  This  evidence  from  the  writings  of  Justin  could  be  extend- 
ed.33°  But  we  should  then  only  know  what  is  already  plain  that  Jus- 
tin subscribes  to  the  formula  theos  soter  for  Jesus. 

Melito,  bishop  of  Sardis,  refers  to  Christ  as  soter.^^^  ^^^y  fragments 


32il5:3f. 

322  Dial  36:2. 

323  37:1. 

324  38:4. 
32^48:1,2. 
32«63:5. 

327  68:9. 

328  126:2. 

329  128:1. 

330  See,  e.  g.,  Apol.  63,  Dial  34,  115,  127. 

331  Eusebius  H.  E.  4,  26,  13. 


62  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

of  his  numerous  treatises  are  extant.  Yet  they  are  sufficient  to  permit 
us  to  conclude  that  Christ  was  theos  for  Melito. 

OvK  kajjiev  \ida}v  ovSefxlav  aiadrjaLV  exovrcov  depairevTal,  dXXa  /jlovov  deov 
Tov  irpo  TTCLVTOiv  Kal  €7rt  iravTOOv  Kal  tov  XptcrroD  avTOv  ovtos  deov  \6yov 
irpo  aicovojv  ecrfxev  dprjaKevTal,  Kal  tcl  e^rjs.^'^  .  .  .  Qeos  yap  dv  6/iov  re  Kal 
avdpiOTTOS  reXetos  6  aur6$  rds  8vo  avrov  ovaias  kinaTOiuaTO  rj/juv,  rrfv  fxev 
deoTTjTa  avTOV  5td  toov  arj/jLeloiV  h  rfj  rpLerlq.  rfj  ixtra  to  /SciTrrta-^ia,  Ti}V  hi 
avSpoiiroTTiTa  avrov  iv  rots  TpiaKovra  xP^pols  rots  wpo  tov  j8a7rrt(7)uaros,  kv 
oh  Sua  TO  dreXes  to  Kara  crapKa  aweKpv^e  tcl  arjfieta  ttjs  avTOv  OeoTrjTOSf 
Kaiirep  debs  aXrjdrjs  wpoaujJVLOS  VTapxo3V^  ...  6  Beds  Trkirovdev  viro  Se^tas 
'Icrpar)\lTL8os.^^ 

Moreover,  Eusebius  says,  "who  is  ignorant  of  the  books  of  Irenaeus 
and  Melito  which  teach  that  Christ  is  God  and  man. "335 

The  Epistle  to  Diognetus  probably  should  be  assigned  to  the  third 
century  and  therefore  does  not  belong  to  the  literature  we  are  study- 
ing for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  validity  of  the  theos  soter  com- 
bination. In  passing  it  may  be  observed  that  "the  Savior"  occurs 
once  in  this  epistle.^as  The  following  passages  show  that  Christ  is  also 
theos  for  its  author.  "For  in  truth  the  almighty  and  all  creating  and 
invisible  God  himself  founded  among  men  the  truth  from  heaven,  and 
the  holy  and  incomprehensible  Logos,  and  established  it  in  their 
hearts,  not  as  one  might  suppose  by  sending  some  minister  to  men,  or 
an  angel,  or  ruler,  or  one  of  those  who  direct  earthly  things,  or  one  of 
those  who  are  entrusted  with  the  dispensations  in  heaven,  but  the 
very  artificer  and  creator  of  the  universe  himself  by  whom  he  made 
the  heavens,  by  whom  he  enclosed  the  sea  in  its  bounds,  whose  mys- 
teries all  the  elements  guard  faithfully;  from  whom  the  sun  received 
the  measure  of  the  courses  of  the  day  ....  him  he  sent  to 
them    ...    he  sent  him  as  God.^^sT 

There  are  three  apologies  for  Christianity  belonging  to  the  second 
century  which  require  investigation.  We  refer  to  the  apologies  of 
Aristides,  Tatian,  and  Athenagoras.  The  Apology  of  Aristides  was 
composed  between  A.  D.  138-147  and  was  addressed  to  Antoninus 
Pius.    Tatian*s  "Address  to  the  Greeks'*  vindicates  the  author's  ac- 

^^  Chron.  Pasch.  I  483   p.  308  of  Goodspeed,  Die  Aeltesten  Apologeten,  Goettin 
gen,  1914. 
333  Anast.  Sin.,  Migne  Ser.  Gr.  T.  89  col.  229,  Goodspeed  p.  310. 
33Mbid.  p.  310. 
^  Eusebius,  H.  E.  5,  28. 

336  Diogn.  9:6. 

337  7:2  fF. 


AS    TITLE    AND    NAME    OF    JESUS  63 

ceptance  of  Christianity  and  was  probably  composed  several  years 
after  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  The  Apology  of  Athenagoras 
is  dated  between  A.  D.  170-180  and  is  addressed  to  Marcus  Aurelius 
and  Commodus.  The  major  portion  of  these  apologies  is  devoted  to 
the  criticism  of  Gentile  religions.  Very  little  space  is  given  to  an 
exposition  of  the  Christian  view  of  salvation.  How  the  emperors  or 
the  Greeks  could  have  gained  much  knowledge  of  the  peculiar  tenets 
of  Christianity  is  beyond  comprehension.  In  Aristides  the  verb  **to 
save"  and  its  cognates  fail  to  appear  in  any  undisputed  reading.  Ar- 
istides has  "the  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  in  but  one  certain  instance. '^s 
Tatian  does  not  furnish  a  single  instance  of  the  employment  of  Christ, 
Lord,  Jesus,  Jesus  Christ,  or  Jesus  the  Christ.  Athenagoras  likewise 
has  no  instance  of  Jesus,  Christ,  Jesus  Christ,  Jesus  the  Christ  or  Lord 
Jesus.  Compare  this  state  of  things  with  the  data  of  Justin, 
where  the  verb  "to  save"  and  its  cognates  and  all  the  various  names 
and  titles  of  Christ  appear  with  great  frequency.  We  should  therefore 
not  be  surprised  to  find  Jesus  called  theos  without  discovering  any 
instance  of  soter.  In  the  Apology  of  Aristides  we  find  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  and  was  born  of  a  virgin. 339  He  also  asserts 
that  Christians  ytyvoiaKovcn  top  deop  KTiarrjv  /cat  drujuovpyov  tojv  airavTOiv 
Kal  aWov  deov  TXrjv  tovtov  oh  ak^ovTai.^^ 

For  Tatian  the  evidence  is  not  so  meagre.  The  Logos  was  in  God 
and  was  the  first-begotten  work  of  the  Father  and  was  the  beginning 
of  the  world  and  begat  the  world. 341  The  Logos  is  also  the  light  of 
God.3«  There  is  but  one  God  and  Christ  was  God:  "We  do  not 
act  as  fools,  O  Greeks,  nor  utter  idle  tales,  when  we  announce  that 
God  was  born  in  the  form  of  man. "3"  Although  soter  does  not  occur 
in  Tatian's  "Address  to  the  Greeks,"  he  regarded  Christ  as  soter. 
For  Clement  of  Alexandria  records  that  Tatian  wrote  a  "treatise 
concerning  perfection  according  to  the  Savior."344  Athenagoras  has 
much  to  say  concerning  the  unity  of  God  and  the  absurdity  of 
polytheism.  The  Greek  poets  and  philosophers  were  compelled 
to  acknowledge  the  oneness  of  God.  There  is  no  room  in  the  cosmos 
for  a  second  God.  There  has  been  but  one  God  from  the  beginning, 
and  he  was  the  sole  creator  of  the  world. 3"     The  Father  and  the   Son 

338  15:1,  cf  the  doubtful  reading  in  15:3. 

339  15:1. 
34M5:3. 

341  Tatian  5. 
3«13. 

343  19. 

344  Strom.  Ill,  12.  ::,,.,,, 


64  THE    COMBINATION    THEOS    SOTER 

are  one;  the  Son  is  In  the  Father,  and  the  Father  is  in  the  Son, 
Christians  speak  of  God  the  Father  and  of  God  the  Son  and  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. ^^^  The  failure  of  Athenagoras  to  call  Jesus  soter  is 
accounted  for,  when  we  recall  that  he  is  not  discussing  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  salvation. 

The  literature  assigned  to  the  primitive  period  of  Christianity  has 
now  been  studied.  From  this  time  onward  the  equation  that  Christ 
is  theos  soter  gains  wider  and  wider  approval.  We  content  ourselves 
with  mentioning  a  few  of  the  attestations:  Irenaeus,  "Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord  and  God  and  Savior  and  King;"347Xertullian,'' We  do  indeed 
definitely  declare  that  two  beings  are  God,  the  Father  and  the  Son  and 
with  the  addition  of  the  Holy  Spirit  even  three;"348Qenient  of  Alex- 
andria, ** David  has  shown  to  us  cursorily,  as  it  appears,  that  the 
Savior  is  God;""^  Eusebius,  **  Who  is  at  once  a  jealous  God  and  a  true 
Savior."35o 

^  Athenag.  5,  6,  7,  8,  9. 

34«  10  cf  18,  24. 

'*^  Irenaeus  adv.  Haer,  I,  9. 

348  Tertullian,  adv.  Prax.  13,  cf  adv.  Marc.  Ill,  12  IV,  23. 

349  Clement,  Stromat.  VII,  10;  for  Origen,  see  contra  Celsum  VIII,  12;  I,  40;  V,  5. 

3^°  Eusebius,  Vita  Const.  Ill,  56;  Eusebius  has  51  instances  of  Savior  in  this  biog- 
raphy; "God  the  supreme  Savior"  said  to  have  been  the  watchword  in  the  victory  over 
Licinius  II,  6. 


CONCLUSION 

The  primary  purpose  of  this  study  was  to  ascertain  when  and  why 
Jesus  was  called  soter  by  the  primitive  Christian  church. 

Our  investigation  has  shown  that,  although  Christianity  from  its 
origin  was  emphatically  a  religion  of  redemption  and  because  of  the 
attitude  and  significance  of  Jesus  required  from  the  beginning  that 
Jesus  should  be  called  soter^  the  earlier  strata  of  New  Testament 
material  are  marked  by  the  utter  absence  of  the  title  soter  with  refer- 
ence to  Jesus.  It  is  only  in  the  period  subsequent  to  the  death  of  the 
apostle  Paul  that  soter  as  title  of  Jesus  emerges. 

Our  investigation  has  also  demonstrated  that  the  title  soter  was 
exceedingly  well-known  in  the  first-century  of  the  Christian  era,  that 
it  was  frequently  found  both  in  the  religious  literature  of  Judaism  and 
in  various  phases  of  the  religious  life  and  literature  of  Graeco-Roman 
civilization  and  further  that  theos  soter  was  a  fixed  combination. 

Dismissing  such  explanations  of  the  primitive  Christian  failure  to 
employ  soter  as  title  of  Jesus  as  opposition  to  the  imperial  employment 
of  soter  and  lack  of  contact  with  the  Gentile  world  as  evidently  inad- 
equate and  unsatisfactory,  we  followed  the  lead  of  the  theos  soter 
formula  and  sought  the  true  explanation  of  the  omission  in  the 
Christology  of  the  primitive  church. 

Our  study  of  the  Christology  of  the  primitive  Christian  church  to 
and  including  the  Apostle  Paul  revealed  the  entire  absence  of  the 
title  soter  with  reference  to  Jesus  as  well  as  the  discrimination  between 
Christ  and  God  and  the  subordination  of  Christ  to  God. 

The  examination  of  various  documents  of  primitive  Christianity 
omitting  soter  established  also  the  absence  of  the  equation  Christ  is 
theos. 

The  examination  of  the  various  primitive  Christian  documents  to 
the  period  of  the  early  apologists  containing  the  title  soter  established 
also  the  presence  of  the  equation  that  Christ  is  theos. 

As  the  result  of  the  evidence  thus  adduced,  our  conclusion  must  be 
that  Jesus  was  not  called  soter  until  he  was  also  called  theos  and  this 
first  occurred  in  the  period  after  Paul. 


The  DuBois  Press 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 


THIS  boo: 


DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
•^^ED  BELOW 


FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

lESSED   FOR    FAILURE  TO    RETTURN 

'"   THE  DATE  DUE.    THE  PENALTY 

TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 

$1.00    ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 


^iT^nm' 


^Sftt^ZHL 


m  10  1998 


^WRFxnsWTt 


iLC^^BKEUOL 


LD  21-100m-8,'34 


r../x'-      ^'^  AlO^y 


-•33087 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


i 


